Austin’s Coffee and Film
Last modified on 2010-07-27 18:31:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Ahhh…. Austin’s. I love this place. Located on Fairbanks Ave in lovely Winter Park, Austin’s Coffee and Film is a tiny little coffee shop that is owned by a wonderful couple who are very, VERY sensitive to food allergies/sensitivities. This is the ONLY place in town that I’ve found I can get a hot latte (Chai Tea Latte with Soy milk). Every time I’ve tried to get a Chai elsewhere, even after explaining about my milk allergy, I’ve gotten contaminated. But here at Austin’s Jackie is SO helpful: she triple washes the steam wand on the machine & uses a dedicated soy milk pot to heat it. In all the many times I’ve been here (yes, I’m sitting on one of the super comfy, eclectic sofas right now) I’ve only had a dairy reaction once. Not easy to do!
They also carry vegan, gluten free baked goodies and can prepare lots of menu items to be GFCF as well. You can get salads modified to be GFCF and I believe you can now get their sandwiches on GF bread (although I’ve never had one). Let me go ask Jackie. Okay, here’s the scoop. She said that she had been getting the GFCF bread from a local bakery (which I won’t name, since it’s second hand info) but they were delivering substandard product, so she’s currently put all GF sandwiches on hold. But she’s been talking with the bakery and trying to work with them to get what she needs, but they haven’t followed through. So as of this post, there is not any way to get a GFCF sandwich. But that will hopefully change in the near future. And Jackie said she’d keep me posted. 
So I’ll post back when I hear something.
I always get the yummy 954 Salad: Spinach, grilled pears (when you tell them you’re GF, they put foil on the grill so you don’t get CC), seedless grapes, pecans (which I skip because I don’t know how they’re roasted and don’t want any CC, but this is probably being overly cautious on my part), red onions and homemade honey vinaigrette. The super yummy dressing is made of all GFCF ingredients – Jackie was great and showed me the labels for all the ingredients so I could inspect them and make sure they’re all safe. This salad usually comes with blue cheese crumbles, but they leave them off for me… as well as the croutons (which they make here and I’m bummed I can’t try them, but oh well. ) But they’re always happy to accommodate any special dietary needs and will really work with you to make anything you’d like. (As long as they have the ingredients… which, they don’t always have… several times I’ve had apples instead of pears on my salad because they never seemed to have pears when I came in… But the grilled apples were tasty on the salad.)
The baked goods at Austin’s come from Veronica’s Vegan Bakery and Raphsodic Bakery, a local orlando vegan place. (I tried it once, didn’t really enjoy the two things I got and was amazed at the high prices… I need to give it another shot….). But it’s hit or miss with the gluten free items… sometimes there’s plenty to choose from, other times it’s one thing…. Today is actually the first time there was nothing GF offered in baked goods. But usually there are two or more muffin flavors and then maybe a breakfast bread or cake being offered here at Austin’s.
Austin’s is a cute little funky coffee hang out place with free wifi, board games and sometimes movies playing (hence the “Film” in the name). And everyone is so nice here! I’m greeted by name, they know my usual drink, and always remember to be extra careful about the milk and gluten. So if you’re in Winter Park and need a little caffeine or nosh, check out Austin’s. And tell Jackie that Noi sent you.
Ethos Vegan Kitchen: Yum!
Last modified on 2010-05-25 14:42:42 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Today my husband and I had our weekly lunch out together. (A weekday lunch is our way of having a weekly “date” without having to spring for a sitter. ) So he’s been doing some GFCF research online (he’s the best!!) and today he suggested a new place for lunch: Ethos Vegan Kitchen.
I was a little hesitant at first… I’ve never been much of a fan of the earthy-crunchy food that I think of when I think “vegan.” (I must say that while I’m not normally a huge carnavore, I’ve been eating more than my share of meat since going GFCF, what with so many other things taken out of my daily food rotation.) But since Vegan means no animal products of any kind, that takes out half of the GFCF equation: the casein can’t be present because there can be no dairy of any kind in anything they prepare. And since they make much of their Vegan fare available Gluten Free, there are many GFCF options on the menu. Score!
So we went for lunch today and were pleasantly surprised with the wide variety of Gluten Free Menu options. We ordered two GF meals to share: the Healthy Trio and the Hippie Wrap.
The Healthy Trio is a three dip “Light Bite” meal. It has black and green olive tapenade (which was a little too… “olivey” for me…. But I’m not a big fan of the super salty, strong taste of olives in general), a homemade hummus (which was thick and creamy and delicious!) and a tomato mango salsa (chunky, sweet and spicy – very tasty). It usually comes with three sides that include toasted bread, but it has an option to order Gluten Free. The very friendly, helpful server said that to make it GF you can substitute a double order of either of the other two dippers that come with it: tortilla chips and raw veggies (which are carrots and celery). But after inquiring what else you could possibly get, we came up with cucumber slices, which were cold, fresh and yummy dipped in the thick hummus. (I’m getting hungry again just writing about this…!)
The other meal we split was The Hippie Wrap: a brown rice wrap (which was large and while rather stiff, crispy almost, it was soft enough to enjoy and eat without falling apart, like a lot of rice wraps tend to) with more super yummy homemade hummus, beautifully red tomatoes, cucumber (which, with three slices for my half of the wrap, were too few for me. So I added more from our dippers tray), sprouts, lettuce and banana peppers (I’m not a big fan, so the server kindly suggested putting them on the side. My husband happily doused his half – he loves them!). It was a very hearty, delicious sandwich. I’m glad we shared – otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to finish it! Oh – and it came with a side dish too! Of the five sides, ALL of Ethos’ sides are GFCF!!! All five! We choose the fresh fruit of the day: watermelon. Cold, fresh, sweet and juicy.
We had a wonderful, healthy spread including really fresh fruit, veggies, dips, a huge wrap, and a root beer (for my husband… I don’t know that it was gluten free… so don’t try that until you check on it!) and water for me. All for a very reasonable price: $17!
So now I can’t wait to go back and try some more Ethos GFCF fare. I went from a hesitant “well, okay… I’ll go and give it a try…” to the now enthusiastic “hey! Let’s go back THERE!” They just have so many different GFCF dishes that we’ll have to sample: salads and soups and wraps and side dishes. You can check out the Ethos Vegan Kitchen menu here. (Note that not all menu items are GFCF… just the ones that have the “GF” blue symbol next to them.)
So, oh darn. I guess we’ll just have to have another lunch date next week. 😛 (I think I’m going to try the homemade black bean soup … or the Mashed Potatoes with Gravy… or maybe the Coconut Curry Wrap…. So many choices! I’ll keep you posted. But meantime, if you’re in the downtown Orlando area, give Ethos Vegan Kitchen a GFCF try!
Chick-fil-a: GFCF Fast Food
Last modified on 2010-05-19 23:19:49 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
GFCF dining on the run is a challenge if you don’t know where to look. And with recipes and preparation practices constantly changing, it’s tough to keep track of it all. Luckily some places seem to stay pretty consistent and are open with their ingredients and prep – Chick-fil-a being one of them. The Chick-fil-a website is wonderfully laid out, with easy to read allergen lists for all possible allergens, including Gluten and Dairy. Go to this page and click the “Quick Reference Guide” button to see a whole, easy-to-read list of all allergens at Chick-fil-a.
And here’s Chick-fil-a’s Gluten Allergy PDF which outlines what to eat and how to order of all their possible gluten-free items (which is only half of our battle…. but it’s a well written, easy to use document, so I figured I’d link to it…).
And for my future reference, I’ve made my own short list of all the things with which I’ve had consistent success at being reaction free. (I’m very sensitive to Gluten and Dairy and my reactions starts within an hour of being exposed. So as of May 2010, I’m confident I’m being GFCF when I order any of the below items.)
My GFCF Go-To Order:
• Waffle Cut French Fries – one of the few places where you won’t get cross contaminated through the frying process – they have separate friers for the fries.
• Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad – I fastidiously pick off the cheese, which the only dairy item in it. (I’m usually just starting by the time my co-diners are just about done! 😛 ) You can ask them to make it for your fresh without the cheese, but I’ve yet to find one that will do it.
• Thousand Island or Light Italian Dressing
Here are the other items that are listed as GFCF on the Chick-fil-a website:
Fruit Salad
Carrot & Raisin Salad
Cole Slaw
Chargrilled Chicken Filet without bun (This is listed in the Gluten PDF on the Chick-fil-a website, but I haven’t tried it so I don’t know about any CC issues you might have… Honestly, I just can’t bring myself to order it yet. The way it’s handled and prepped.. with so much gluten on hands/gloves from handling the buns… I just don’t want to take that chance. But if you’re not too sensitive and don’t have issues with cross contamination, perhaps you could try it and let me know about your experience.)
GFCF Dressings and Sauces: Reduced Fat Berry Balsamic Vinaigrette, Thousand Island Dressing, Light Italian Dressing, Fat Free Honey Mustard Dressing, Polynesian Sauce, Barbeque Sauce (but this is odd, since so many BBQs have gluten, so I haven’t tried this yet), Honey Mustard Sauce, Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce, Chick-fil-a Sauce.
NOTE: The Honey Roasted Sunflower Seeds and Tortilla Strips that come with salads are NOT GFCF. I made this mistake once – I quickly read the ingredients and tried them – big mistake! There’s wheat in the sunflower seeds and (big surprise:) dairy in the tortilla strips.
The only item on the breakfast menu that is GFCF are the hash browns. I don’t go out for breakfast, so I’ve never had them, so I can’t vouch for them. But I’m assuming they’re cooked in the same way the french fries are, so I’d assume they’d be safe.
There’s nothing on the Dessert Menu that’s GFCF…
While the above list is not a whole lot of items to choose from, Chick-fil-a is one of the few fast food places I’ll go and know I have a very good chance of coming out reaction free. And I’ll happily take a few good, solid GFCF choices over a whole menu of “maybe GFCF” food.
So even if you’re GFCF, you can still do as the Chick-fil-a Cows direct their loyal followers and “Eat Mor Chikin”!
GFCF Dining: Pollo Tropical
Last modified on 2011-08-30 14:28:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
*Pollo Tropical Tropichop*: The top is the Large which is NOT GFCF because of the Caesar Salad side. But the bottom is a Regular Tropichop (chicken, white rice and black beans) and is totally GFCF.
Fast food that’s GFCF?! Who knew it was possible? But it is at Pollo Tropical
Today I had lunch with my DH at our neigborhood Pollo Tropical and had a wonderful meal, yet again. This is my go-to place for fast, easy, always GFCF food. Pollo Tropical is actually a member of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), so they’re really aware of the considerations necessary to accommodate food sensitive people. The staff at the three Pollo Tropicals I frequent are always super nice and friendly. And every single employee I’ve ever interacted with has taken my food allergies very seriously and were extremely conscientious with the gluten. Since going GF on Dec 3rd, I’ve probably been here a dozen or more times and have NEVER had any reaction.
So, what do I eat here? I love the Tropichops! It’s a bowl of rice and beans with your choice of meat on top. I usually get the Chicken Tropichop with white rice (I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the yellow rice has gluten in it, but it’s not listed on the official Pollo Tropical Allergy List… but I always get white to be safe) and black beans. They have a Regular and a Large, but the large comes with a side Caesar salad, so I always get the Regular (and it’s more than enough to eat.. I usually take some home!). To spice it up a little, I put on a bunch of mild salsa from the salsa bar. And I usually get the combo meal (adds a side and a drink). For my side I always get the super delicious Plantains. They’re yummy, ripe & sweet and are somehow cooked to a beautiful caramelized texture (I don’t like bananas, but I LOVE these cooked plantains!).
Here’s a link to the Pollo Tropical Allergy List. Well, I hope this helps you find some easy, safe GFCF fast food. Enjoy!
Eating GFCF at Pei Wei
Last modified on 2010-03-25 02:41:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Eating out and being truly gluten free and casein free is proving to be very difficult. There’s milk and gluten in SOOO many prepared foods. I’ve been hearing from people that going to oriental restaurants is the way to go: not a lot of dairy in general and plenty of rice and veggies.
So today for lunch we went to Pei Wei to give their Gluten Free Menu a try. I was initially a little disappointed with the number of items to choose from (there are currently only five menu items) but all of them seemed to be dairy free too. I ordered the Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls without Thai peanut sauce (they are in the regular menu under the Salad section). When ordering, I told them about being allergic to dairy and being gluten free. The girl behind the counter was a little confused about the whole “gluten free menu” thing and deferred to a more experienced employee. She, fortunately, knew all about the gluten free menu button on the computer, so she showed her “go here to the Gluten Free Menu, then just push the item and that’s it.”
When our order was delivered, the server made a point of saying “Gluten Free Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls” when he announced the order to see who had what. That was very encouraging. And then when I ate the first bite… YUM!!! They we absolutely delicious!!! Fresh and tasty, the chicken, veggies and mint came wrapped in a nice soft rice paper. It was nice and cool and light, but with three full rolls to an order, very filling and satisfying. And instead of coming with the gluten-y peanut sauce, the three rolls came instead with a sweet & spicy sauce that was very tasty. (I must admit that I used to love that peanut sauce and, honestly, still missed it a little. But that’s a small price to pay for a GFCF reaction-free meal out with my husband!)
Now it’s been almost 4 hours since eating, so I think it’s safe to say that I had a totally positive, gluten free, casein free dining experience at Pei Wei. Yeay! I’ll be going back again, that’s for sure.