<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hi, list: In the last two months, I have had two extraordinary experiences at two of the best restaurants in America that I think are worth reporting on, These days there are fine chefs all over the country most of whom, I suspect, are more open than we may assume to the challenge of feeding us. My first experience was at The French Laundry in Yountville, California, where the chef is this year's winner of the James Beard Award (and known to me as the chef of the late lamented Rakel in New York). I decided to take my sweetie there for his birthday and hope for the best for myself. Knowing, however, that great kitchens are staffed with people who know food chemistry and pride themselves on what they do, I wrote a one-page letter a few weeks before the date of our reservation saying we would like the tasting menu and that I would be most grateful for whatever they could do by way of necessary substitutions to accomodate the gluten problem. I said "...for medical reasons" but figured explaining the disease was irrelevant under the circumstances. In my letter (which I noticed was displayed on a clipboard in the kitchen the night we ate there) I outlined the allowed classes of food and gave examples of disallowed foods, with special emphasis on the contamination problem. I said I expected that some substitutions would not be possible, and that would be okay--whatever they could do would be fine. The result was beyond delicious up to and including a delicate flourless cookie stuck into the flourless chocolate cake NOT cooked in a flour-dusted pan (I checked). Instead of getting lobster on orzo, for instance, they served me lobster with salsify on a citrus coulis--a spectacular production. I suggested afterwards that if my dinner was not more trouble than it was worth, I'd send the word out on the Celiac list. "Oh, yes!" they said. "We would be delighted." The kitchen staff said it was fun-they enjoyed the challenge. "Are you coming back tonight?" the pastry chef asked. Ah, sorry, no, I said. "..because," he continued, "we could cook you a whole new menu!" Last night was my birthday dinner, at Lespinasse in New York. It was a staggering tour de force. The chef custom tailored the entire menu, an amazing symphony of broths and sauces built around my announced preference (working from their fax'd menu) for oxtails rather than more common meats like lamb. In other words, one of the best chefs in the world planned and cooked an extraordinarily elaborate meal--for me. Gosh. Granted,these dinners are rare events, too decadent to do very often even if the price doesn't knock your socks off. But it is nice to know that fantasy-level dining is not closed to us. Here's to the sensual pleasures of food -- !! Cheers, Mary Brown NYC