Indiana

Restaurants are listed in alphabetical order. If you have info on a Indiana restaurant please email us at canieatthere@gmail.com.

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Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
Web Site

Allergy Friendly

Evansville Courier & Press
August 25, 2008

Holiday World being honored for food allergy efforts

Staff report

Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, which has won kudos in theme park circles for its its cleanliness and friendliness and for pioneering free soft drinks and suntan lotion for its guests, has another honor under its belt.

The Santa Claus, Ind., park will be recognized Wednesday in Evansville by the Tri-State Allergy and Anaphylaxis Support Group for "going the extra mile" and introducing an allergen-friendly menu this summer.

Kim Moors, president of the support group, said her board began working with the theme park last year on ways to accommodate food-allergic guests. It's estimated 12 million Americans have food allergies, which can be life threatening.

She said by offering some specialty items, educating its food staff and making ingredient and cross-contamination information available, Holiday World eased the anxiety levels of many families and brought a taste of normalcy to a day at the park.

Holiday World matriarch Pat Koch has a granddaughter who suffers from food allegies.

The support group plans to present Koch with its 2008 Food Allergy Excellence Award on Wednesday during the fifth annual "Back to School with Food Allergies" presentation at Welborn Clinic.

-- Rich Davis

Read More about their food allergy efforts on their Restaurants & Food Outlets page.

Peanut-Free Baseball in Illinois

Kudos to Kane County Cougar General Manager Jeff Sedivy for his efforts to bring baseball to kids (and adults) with food allergies! Read more about it...

Event allows safe game viewing for allergic kids
Kate Thayer, Kane County Chronicle
http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2008/07/17/news/local/
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Minneapolis/St. Paul - Eating Out with a Food Allergy

Restaurants are listed in alphabetical order.  If you have info on a Minneapolis restaurant please email us at canieatthere@gmail.com.

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Locanda D'Amico

Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, Concourse F

*Parent company D'Amico & Sons has other locations in Minnesota and Florida

Web Site

Allergy Friendly

Editor's Note:  On a recent trip to North Dakota I flew through Minneapolis and was in desperate need of food.  Eating at the airport is not something that I look forward to and usually have a full stock of food in my bag.  But this was one time I didn't and my flight was delayed.  In concourse F you'll find this qauint, non-airport-like Italian restaurant.  Before sitting down I asked the hostess if they could accommodate my allergies, she went in the back and, to my utter surprise, out came the chef.  Had I magically been teleported away from the airport?  I explained my allergies - soy and shellfish - to the chef and he gave me a detailed description of what I could and could not eat (he even told me the percentage of wheat content in their noodles).  I gladly took my seat and throughly enjoyed my pasta - I could have eaten two helpings!  Thank you Laconda D'Amico, you get a golden star!  

Allergy-friendly French Dinner Series - Chicago

UPDATE!  Bistro 110 has reworked the schedule for their upcoming allergy-friendly dinner series.  Here are the details.

- Sans-Gluten Dinner, May 12: To include dough-less "quiche lorraine" and gluten-free tagliatelle with ragout of mussel, clam, shrimp and tarragon

- Sans-Dairy Dinner, September 29: To include cream-free "cream of lentil" soup and roasted chicken breast with corn flan

- Sans-Shellfish Dinner, November 17: To include shellfish-free seafood soup and an uncannily lobster-esque monkfish ragout

Saw this article in The Stew, a blog by Chicago Tribune food and dining writers:

Allergy-friendly French dinner series set at Bistro 110
Posted by Monica Eng at 1:00 p.m. CDT

When you're a foodie with food allergies, it's hard not to feel odd as you quiz the server on all the ingredients in a dish. But food allergies are serious business. And more restaurants address this, as we've reported.

Bistro 110 (110 E. Pearson St.; 312-266-3110) and its chef Dominique Tougne recognize this (Tougne is the father of two children with food allergies) and has crafted four special dinners scheduled over the next year to open up the world of French cuisine to those with food allergies.

The first -- a nut-free menu -- is scheduled for March 24 and will feature nut-free sole fillet almandine and faux peanut butter and mousse parfait. Later dinners will focus on foods for those who follow gluten-free (Sept. 29), dairy-free (June 16) and shellfish-free diets (Nov. 17).

Author's Note: Check out Can I Eat There's Chicago City Guide with info on this and other resturants.

Seattle Magazine - Food Allergy Article

Seattle Magazine recently ran an article, "Gastric Bypass", on eating out with food allergies. (Susan Roxborough, January 2008, Pg. 42). It highlights Chef Daniel Ahren, who's married to fellow blogger and author Gluten-Free Girl and the restaurant where he is chef, Impromptu Wine Bar Cafe. It also features Cafe Sweet Posie, Crush Restaurant, Da Vinci Bakery, Ener-G Foods and Tom Douglas restaurants, If you live in Seattle, it's worth a read.

It also mentions the Food Allergy Initiative and its restaurant training program.

Check out the Can I Eat There? Seattle post for more info on eating out in the Emerald City.

New York City

Restaurants are listed in alphabetical order. If you have info on a New York City restaurant please email us at canieatthere@gmail.com.

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Allergic Girl
Blog

Allergy Friendly

Author's Note: Since I live in Seattle and don't get to travel as much as I'd like, enlisting the help of others is key to making this site all that it can be. So thanks to people like Allergic Girl I can now add an NYC post!

My fellow blogger has a great blog dedicated to living allergy-free that includes info on restaurants and other allergy-friendly foods. So, if you're headed out to eat in NYC check her list of "allergy friendly restos."

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Gluten-Free NYC
Blog

Allergy Friendly

Author's Note: As you probably guessed, this blog's information is specific to living gluten-free. Thanks Gluten-Free NYC!


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Seattle

Restaurants are listed in alphabetical order. If you have info on a Seattle restaurant please email us at canieatthere@gmail.com.

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Coastal Kitchen (Capitol Hill)
Web Site

Allergy Friendly

Coastal Kitchen has a detailed allergy book with information on all of their dishes. Just tell your server what dishes your interested in and they'll check the book. The restaurant uses olive and canola oil.

Author's Note: We just ate here last night and the server was very accommodating and friendly. And the food was great!!

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Flying Apron Bakery (Fremont)
Web Site

Allergy Friendly

From Flying Apron Web Site (January 2008):

"Flying Apron products are created with your good health in mind. They are made using the finest organic ingredients; whole grain wheat free flours and organic non hydrogenated oils. The Flying Apron is a wheat free, gluten free and vegan bakery. Many of our products are alternatively sweetened as well. For a list of ingredients for each of our products see our menu."

Flying Apron serves a small selection of lunch items and you can special order cakes (even wedding cakes) and pies for special occasions.

Author's Note: If you can eat oats, the raspberry Flying Aprons are the best! Lunch selection is limited but its a good place for a quick snack. The staff is very friendly!

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Gordito's Healthy Mexican Food (Greenwood)
Web Site

Allergy Neutral: Staff Accomodates Allergies; Check with staff

Gordito's staff will check on ingredients for you and are very helpful. Shellfish and other meats are cooked on separate grills. Ingredients are fresh. They do use soybean oil when making an item "fajita style" and chips are deep fried in soybean oil. It seems food is peanut free (but please double check).

From their web site:

"What makes our food healthful you ask?…We are completely transfat free, our beans are made without lard or oil, our rice without chicken stock, all of our meats are grilled, and our salsas are all made from fresh tomatoes and chiles.

We have many vegetarian and vegan options, even our chips are completely animal free."

Author's Note: We love Gordito's and since learning of our food allergies we haven't been there and lately we've been craving it like crazy, so we thought it was time to give it a shot. I called ahead on a weekday and spoke with a manager, he was very helpful. I can't do shellfish or soy and my hubby needs to avoid peanuts. We got the thumbs up on everything except the chips and the "fajita style" veggies (they are both made with soybean oil). So we headed there for our fix. I double checked our order's ingredients with the woman at the cash register. I do have to say I felt a little nervous standing there watching them making the food (chances for cross contamination seem high!). But I enjoyed every bite of my wet salsa verde pork burrito and I felt just fine afterwards. Same goes for my hubby! Yay Gordito's! Please note that this was the Greenwood lunch, I haven't checked on the others.

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Norm's Eatery & Ale House (Fremont)

Allergy Alert: Allergens in Food, Check With Your Server

Norm's menu specifically notes to "Please Inform Your Served [sic] of Any Food Allergies You May Have."

Author's Note: My recent trip to Norm's reminded me of one of those rules we all know but don't regularly follow: don't assume anything. I LOVE Norm's (the food's yummy and I can bring my dog along!) so when my friend suggested we meet there for dinner I was game. But, I hadn't eaten there since learning of my soy allergy. I checked the menu before heading out. Seeing the note at the bottom of the menu about allergies made me smile and think "Cool, they are allergy friendly." But, it was a different story when I got there. My first let down came when I informed the server of my allergy asking her to check on soy ingredients and she seemed annoyed at my request (um, aren't I supposed to tell you?). And let down number two came when she came back with the answer: just about everything on the menu is made with some sort of soy product. But I was there and I was hungry... so I ordered what I could (a salad) and tentatively took a few bites (was it really soy-free?? I didn't feel totally confident.) Needless to say, this is a bummer. If Norm's is cool enough to accommodate dogs, can't they take care of us with food allergies too? I'm thinking about writing Norm's a letter asking them use a little less soy....

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Sitka & Spruce (Eastlake)
Web Site

Allergy Neutral: Staff Accommodates Allergies, Check with Your Server

Food is made from local and fresh ingredients. The menu changes daily. Many of the dishes do include nuts and dairy. They do appear to be soy-free. Just let your server know about your allergy. Wait staff is friendly and accommodating.

Author's note: The food is excellent. The wait can be long and you'll leave smelling like the kitchen, but it's worth it.

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Yanni's Greek Restaurant (Greenwood)
Web Site

Allergy Alert: Check, Then Double Check with Your Server

Author's Note: I called ahead to ask about whether they used any soy products and was told "no". When we sat down to dinner I asked again and server said, "let me check with my Dad, the chef." Sure enough almost everything on the menu is made with soybean oil. So we ended up with a dressing-less lettuce salad, a plate of cucumbers and some really dry lamb kebabs. We probably won't go back. Lesson learned: it's always to good to double check before you order, even if you've called ahead.