I'm going to start with, in my opinion, the best restaurant for eating gluten free, and that's P.F. Chang's China Bistro. The gluten free menu is embedded right in the menu that they give everyone else, so you don't have to ask for a separate menu. Many of the dishes that they make normally they have on the gluten free menu, so you get to enjoy the same foods, just without gluten. (My favorite things to order are the GF Egg Drop Soup, the Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Chang's Spicy Chicken). To make things even better, P.F. Chang's has separate plates that they use for all gluten free foods starting from preparation in the kitchen all the way to serving you at the table. The gluten free plates are white with a brown outer rim letting the kitchen staff, wait staff and guests know that the food that goes on those plates should be gluten free. Furthermore, the three sauces that they provide at the table (soy sauce- which usually contains wheat, a mustard sauce and a chili sauce) will be provided gluten free as well. I also have many other food allergies-- peanuts, tree nuts and coconut allergies, and P.F. Chang's will also accommodate this by providing another type of menu which cross references items containing these foods. Absolutely amazing.

My next favorite is Olive Garden. While it's easy to make gluten free pasta at home, it's also nice to go out to a place that offers a gluten free pasta menu. I personally like their salad, and it's a piece of cake to take off the croutons. If only they served gluten free cake….

Chicago Pizzeria Uno is another restaurant that has a great gluten free menu. While you can't really get a deep dish pizza, you can get a gluten free pizza among many other foods. The calling for me here is their gluten free beer (sometimes on tap!)- Redbridge.

Finally, Red Robin offers gluten free hamburger buns to go along with their hamburgers. I really liked this option since I usually have to order a hamburger with no bun. It was a nice surprise when I saw it on the menu (for a dollar extra, but worth it!).

Going out to eat used to be on the list of things I dreaded when I first started experimenting with my diet. As I mentioned before, I became a vegan when I was 15. Growing up in suburbia in a small town in Connecticut, I had to drive 20 miles to the nearest City (New Haven) to find enough variety to keep me coming back... they didn't have substitutes in the regular grocery stores back then. Then, I went to college in New York. New York city is PACKED with vegan restaurants- I was in heaven!

Gluten-free though? Add in my son's casein and soy intolerance, and the dread resurfaced. Although I am a single mom on an extreme budget, it still is nice to feel like a grown-up and go to a restaurant once in a while. Fortunately, one of the signs of the times is a growing acceptance for food intolerances, exhibited by alternate (mainly gluten-free) menus.

Seasons 52 is definitely a restaurant I recommend to anyone who is particular about what they eat. They do have gluten-free options, and the last time I was there the server very carefully went over each ingredient with me (since I have sooo many foods I avoid on top of gluten). The chef actually made something custom just for me. I really enjoy their Cedar Plank Atlantic Salmon, but they do switch out the menu according to what's in season, hence their title. Seasons 52 also has other menus including vegan, vegetarian, lactose free, and soy-free... they even have garlic-free. As much as I love garlic though, I don't think I'll be needing that one.

Another intolerant-friendly restaurant is First Watch. They don't serve dinners, but when I'm hungry early in the day I know I can pop in there and be taken care of without concern. They have a gluten-free guide, explaining how you should order certain entrees if you are avoiding ingredients. Most of the gluten-free advice is to avoid the english muffin. Seeing I don't really like eating breads for the most part, this doesn't phase me. I prefer fresh fruit as a side to my omelet, and they will gladly substitue. Make sure you tell your server ALL of your issues- my last waitress kindly pointed out I should specify cracked eggs, otherwise they may use a pre-mixed egg scramble that contains dairy. A never-ending supply of coffee is always a good thing in my book too :)

I don't know if this is a chain, but since it is in one of the biggest tourist areas in the world- Disney in Orlando- I figured I'd throw it in there. Boma, Flavors of Africa offers an eclectic array of foods, with TONS of disney-happy staff to guide you. My son was able to eat there- my son can never eat out!!! Vegetarian-friendly, vegan friendly, dairy-free friendly... each staff I asked was very happy to tell me every ingredient in their food (it's buffet style), and some even brought suggestions to my table for my son to try. Total Godsend!

The style of restaurant seems to help as much as anything for me, although some chains do it best. It seems that most Asian (Japanese, Thai, Chinese, etc.) is a very good choice for me since they typically don't have dairy and, if you can avoid the noodles and soy sauce (or get the GF kind), they seem to have lots of GF options. P.F. Chang's is extra special since they have their own GF menu!

Another cuisine that seems relatively friendly to my allergies is Mexican. I typically end up getting fajitas with black beans. As long as I specify no breading, corn tortillas instead of flour, no sour cream on the pico de gallo, and no cheese in the black beans, I'm good.

Seems like a lot of requests, but as many of you reading this can attest, we've all gotten pretty comfortable double-checking and making special requests. It's not unusual for the server to make an extra trip back to the kitchen during our order. Several times I've had the luck of having the server say that "the chef is celiac." I'm very sorry that the chef is celiac, but I almost get a sense of relief when they say that because I know the chef will take care of me.

I wanted to report about a recent restaurant experience at a franchise pizza joint called Uncle Maddio's.

I had never heard of the this place until we went to the Gluten Free Allergy Free Wellness Event in North Atlanta. I heard from quite a few of the attendees about what a great place Uncle Maddio's was to eat gluten free pizza. Having not had pizza in ages, I took notice.

Then just last week at a gluten-free meetup in the Dunwoody area of North Atlanta (thanks Bree!), we had the opportunity to try it out as a group. I was not only interested because of the gluten-free pizza, but because Uncle Maddio's also serves "daiya vegan" dairy free cheese - yes, I am gluten-free and casein free. Finally, I thought, I might be able to eat pizza like everyone else.

It is an interesting concept — a cafeteria style make-your-own-pizza much like Subway (a sandwich chain throughout the nation and probably the world), where you can call out all the ingredients you want as they put it on your pizza. I've been to other cafeteria style pizza joints in my heyday but this one seemed much more organized. I was impressed in how they handled my gluten free and dairy free requests by putting on new gloves and using dedicated ladles so as not to cross contaminate with other menu items. The Celiac people in our group assured others that they had never been sick after eating here, so they felt their process was very good and limited any cross-contamination. Once we were done with our ingredients, they put them on a little conveyor belt taking it right through the oven.

When it was delivered to our table, it looked and smelled just like any other great pizza I had had in my past gluten-filled life. I was very impressed with the crust, partly because I had not had pizza in awhile, but also because it was real real close to what a pizza crust tastes like - nice and thin with a crunchewy texture. Mine also had the dairy free cheese, which I didn't expect as much from, but I was pleasantly surprised. The dairy free cheese was melted, although nothing like the gooey deliciousness of real melted cheese. And it tasted good. The daiya cheese is not something I would recommend to anyone if they didn't have an allergy to casein, but it was a solid substitute for me, and I thought it to be worth it.

Even though I liked the pizza, I heard a couple of others from the group mention another place in town that had better crusts. If there's a better crust in town, I'm all in, but I must say Uncle Maddio's was very good and it allowed me to eat pizza once again. Thanks Uncle Maddio's! I'll be back again.

You can check them out here: http://unclemaddios.com/

Living in the Pacific Northwest (mainly Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon), I am lucky to say that I have many options when it comes to the gluten-free diet. While they are not national restaurant chains, they are local chains that are popular among the residents.

1) Burgerville: The first restaurant that I discovered that had a gluten-free bun was a burger joint called Burgerville. Imagine a more old-fashioned McDonald's. In addition to serving hamburgers, they also serve fish and chips. Anyway, after about two months of my initial gluten-free phase, I wanted a hamburger so bad. It was so bad, in fact, that I took the time to research it online. I found that Burgerville had one of the best gluten-free buns out there, so I decided to give it a try. And it was indeed a good bun! Although it didn't have as much texture as regular hamburger buns, it wasn't dry and flat like other gluten-free bread. It was different, but it was a good different.

2) Blazing Onion: A friend of mine took me to this restaurant a couple years before I became gluten intolerant. They make one of the best burgers and sweet potatoes I had ever had in my life. It was a great experience. I was younger then and had less experience, so I didn't discover much better burgers elsewhere. Anyway, at this time, it was one of the best I had ever had. After I become gluten intolerant, I just avoided it because I knew all they had was burgers. About two weeks ago, I visited Seattle again and was waiting at the mall for a friend of mine. I had an hour to kill, and right in front of where I parked was Blazing Onion. Just seeing the logo made me want a burger, so I checked on my phone to see if they had a gluten-free menu. Yes! So I went in to try their gluten-free bun and it was divine. Their gluten-free bun reminds me of ciabatta bread or an english muffin. It was bouncy and had a great texture.

It's easy to get upset at a restaurant for making a mistake and not knowing what gluten is, or which ingredients have gluten. But I know that dealing with a customer with a food allergy is stressful and often annoying, so I try my best to be understanding. If they insist, I just calmly tell them that if they make a mistake, they could be dealing with a blacked out customer with asthma. They usually do a little research after that. :)

Romano's Macaroni Grill!

Just tried the Fettuccine Alfredo with gluten free penne pasta.... it's unbelievably good. The pasta tastes and has the texture of "regular" pasta and the cheeses are to die for. I have already been there twice in the past two weeks to order this dish even though they have a pretty big "allergy friendly" menu with dishes to choose from. This is my new favorite for a while!!! Had to share!

While at a convention in New Jersey this past year, we happened to visit a restaurant next to one of our regulars. We’d never heard of the Bone Fish Grill - a chain owned by the same company that owns Outback Steakhouse. Come to find out, from talking with the manager at the location, the entire staff has been trained on gluten free products and the risk of cross-contamination.

Looking back, it’s so nice to consider that a restaurant chain took it this seriously. Not just to offer gluten free options, but to establish a knowledgeable culture around the allergy.

They have a pretty good menu, too. It’s not just a list of things that don’t happen to have gluten in them, but items that they promise won’t be cross contaminated AND are gluten free.

Bonefish Grill has a selection of gluten free beers, as well.

As far as food, it they had had a mango salsa that was to die for! Absolutely amazing! The fish was well prepared and as a side we had whipped potatoes with broccoli. It was delicious.

Though, like I said, talking with the manager was one the highlights. I didn’t explain, though, how it was that we came to talk to him. As soon as someone in our party mentioned they wanted a gluten free menu, the entire demeanor of the waitress changed. She was instantly very respectful, not thinking of a dietary choice, but asked if it was an allergy. She then asked if cross-contamination was often an issue. She wasn’t gluten free, but to see her asking such informative questions was impressive.

If you’re up for some seafood, and a night without having to worry about it, it’s worth a shot. Highly recommended.