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Pre-diagnosis, I used to eat at California Chicken Cafe
(www.californiachickencafe.com) all the time.  They're a roast chicken chain
in the Los Angeles area.  Not as good as Zankou Chicken, but a similar idea,
with a bigger presence on the Westside.

Shortly after I was diagnosed, I went in to pick up dinner, and asked about
the possible presence of wheat in their chicken.  I figured it was not a
problem - just stay away from the flatbread and I should be okay.  The
chicken does not have a discernable breading or tell-tale signs of flour.
But the manager told me that they had recently changed their formulas and he
didn't know what was in the food.  He referred me to his partner, Andre de
Montesquiou, who is in charge of the food part of the business.

Unfortunately, the response to my inquiry was less than thrilling:

> Thanks for your note.  Congratulations on your discovery of your
allergies.
> I am sorry to say that we are not in a position
> to disclose our ingrediants or give you assurance of what is or is not in
> our food products as it relates to food allergies.  For us to investigate
> this would take a tremendious amount of time and possibly expose us to
> liability should we make an innocent mistake or change procedures,
> suppliers, or ingrediants in the future.  This change could be with or
> without our consent and with or without our knowledge and if we did know
> about it, how would we communicate it to you or other customers that we
made
> disclosures to in the past.  We make subtle changes frequently, but these
> changes could greatly affect you and we would not want to be in a position
> of possibly causing harm, even though unintentionally, to anybody.  You
are
> absolutely correct about the cross-contamination of food products and in
any
> restaurant environment, anybody highly alergic to any items in the same
> building, should not eat at the establishment.  I wish I could give you
some
> assurance that our restaurant would be safe for you to eat at, but
> unfortunately I would have to say that it would not be and it possibly
could
> be very dangerous for you.

So, basically, they are unwilling to reveal what they serve their customers,
and anyone with food allergies or intolerances of any sort are advised to
steer clear.  Eat here only if you are not concerned about what you are
eating.

I know this is a legal butt-covering, and I appreciate the desire to avoid
potential liabilities.  But this is not a particularly customer-friendly
(nor service-oriented) approach to business, despite the professed desire to
avoid harming anyone.  In reality, this is an attitude which holds plausible
deniability in higher regard than customer health and safety.

This is unfortunate, because the food is so darn yummy.  Of course, there
may be (and probably are) GF meals to be had at California Chicken Cafe, but
personally I am not willing to risk it, given the response I got.


-Theron Trowbridge
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