[Rail Paul]

I notice the esteemed Park & Orchard restaurant in East Rutherford NJ has a special menu for people suffering from celiac conditions. This is a great idea, and certainly a boon to people who require wheat-free food preparations.

There's an alternative of rice pasta cooked in fresh (not previously used for regular pasta) water, and several combinations of menu and specials items.

Sample:

APPETIZERS


Park & Orchard's Own Fresh Mozzarella

Served with roasted red peppers

Roasted Red Peppers (Rao's Style)

With oil, vinegar, pignoli & raisins

Pastrami Smoked Salmon with "NO SAUCE"


Baba Ganoush,

Eggplant, tahini, garlic, parsley, & lemon pate "NO PITA"

Grilled Shiitake Mushrooms

Brushed with olive oil

Hummus -

Chickpea, tahini, garlic, parsley, & lemon pate "NO PITA"

Park & Orchard - click on celiac menu

[Sneakeater]

Hill Country in New York -- of all places -- has a card they give you listing which food items would be excluded by which allergies or diseases (including Celiac). It's very helpful.

[flyfish]

This is starting to happen more in smaller restaurants and is often because someone in the owner's family has been diagnosed with celiac disease. Our local pizza joint has a gluten-free pizza and it isn't even special order - you can walk in and get one made. Our celiac-suffering neighbour was telling us this past weekend that she discovered a Chinese restaurant that is MSG-free and has many gluten-free choices, so she is in heaven.

Cards like Sneak mentioned would be very helpful for people; occasionally a restaurant can provide a list of ingredients but this is cumbersome to go through. Then once you take the trouble to confirm the ice cream sundae is safe, some dumb server will stick a wafer in it...

[SRD]

The Park and Orchard menu doesn't seem to be very stimulating in places, especially the 'no sauce' idea, I think one of the reasons for eating out is to see the way chefs prepare sauces, virtually anyone can chuck a few slices of meat or fish onto a plate and it really isn't difficult to use alternative thickeners. Another thing that worries me slightly about Chinese dishes is the use of soy sauce and its derivatives (BBQ etc.) as most soys contain wheat; as someone with a severe wheat allergy (not coeliac) I only use Tamari soy. Another area of danger is chips (french fries), a number of frozen chips suppliers dust the chips with flour so that they flow easily from the bag.

One annoyance for me is suet, for some reason manufacturers of beef suet dust it with wheat flour whereas manufacturers of vegetable suet use rice flour, why the difference? Fortunately I can get freshly prepared suet from a local butcher.

But it's a start, but errors are often made, on a number of occasions staff have used things without thinking, toasted crumb garnishes, wafers, croutons etc. On the other hand I'm amazed at the number of places that use reduction, or butter to thicken their sauces nowadays.

[Rail Paul]

The Park and Orchard menu doesn't seem to be very stimulating in places, especially the 'no sauce' idea,

I'd agree on that observation. Although they add items occasionally, much of the menu probably dates from about 1958.

Fortunately, so do the wine prices, which makes the place a huge attraction for many people. The owners are wine lovers, and bought truckloads of wines in the 1970s and 1980s

The list is 123 pages long. There are six pages on Gevrey-Chambertin alone.

List

[SRD]

The Park and Orchard menu doesn't seem to be very stimulating in places, especially the 'no sauce' idea,

I'd agree on that observation. Although they add items occasionally, much of the menu probably dates from about 1958.

Fortunately, so do the wine prices, which makes the place a huge attraction for many people. The owners are wine lovers, and bought truckloads of wines in the 1970s and 1980s

The list is 123 pages long. There are six pages on Gevrey-Chambertin alone.

List

Will they serve wine without food?

Reminds me of the Toastmasters at Burham, when the owner retired he sold the cellar separately, it raised more than the pub, some of the wines were so fragile they had to be drunk on the premises. The owner put on a series of dinners so that the purchasers of the wine could enjoy them without having to move them.

[flyfish]

Another thing that worries me slightly about Chinese dishes is the use of soy sauce and its derivatives (BBQ etc.) as most soys contain wheat; as someone with a severe wheat allergy (not coeliac) I only use Tamari soy.

In the case of the Chinese restaurant I mentioned, family members of the owner have celiac disease, so they are extremely careful about the ingredients. But you are right to be cautious, because wheat is found in the most unlikely places.

[SRD]

Another thing that worries me slightly about Chinese dishes is the use of soy sauce and its derivatives (BBQ etc.) as most soys contain wheat; as someone with a severe wheat allergy (not coeliac) I only use Tamari soy.

In the case of the Chinese restaurant I mentioned, family members of the owner have celiac disease, so they are extremely careful about the ingredients. But you are right to be cautious, because wheat is found in the most unlikely places.

I have known coeliacs to eat many things that they didn't realise contained gluten.

[davidthomas8779]

Another thing that worries me slightly about Chinese dishes is the use of soy sauce and its derivatives (BBQ etc.) as most soys contain wheat; as someone with a severe wheat allergy (not coeliac) I only use Tamari soy.

In the case of the Chinese restaurant I mentioned, family members of the owner have celiac disease, so they are extremely careful about the ingredients. But you are right to be cautious, because wheat is found in the most unlikely places.

I have known coeliacs to eat many things that they didn't realise contained gluten.

there are several restaurant chains, PF Changs and Outback that have gluten-free menus. Although not the best food of its class, it is good to be able to take the wife and kids out in a different city and know that they are very likely to not get sick.

[tsquare]

Are you asking for other restaurants catering to celiac diners?

Impromptu Wine Bar Cafe in Seattle has a completely gluten free menu.

http://impromptuwinebar.com/

[StephanieL]

Risotteria in NYC is HQ for celiac diners--even the breadsticks are gluten-free.

[Sneakeater]

Is that bar for Celiacs still open in the EV? Last I heard, the neighbors were (not surprisingly) trying to close it down.

[splinky]

anyone have any additions for nyc? i wanna eat out sometimes

[Ron Johnson]

Peter Lugers has a nice gluten-free menu.

bacon, tomatoes, steak