<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Dear celiac members,
I received wonderful suggestions to my recent post regarding San
Francisco.
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel by the Embarcadero Center
(beautiful) and the restaurant personnel were absolutely wonderful.
Their menu indicates that they are willing to accommodate special diet
requirements. The chef did a wonderful job. She understood the diet
completely, including cross contamination issues. Breakfast was easy
since we ordered eggs, fruit, ham and sausage (confirmed GF).We felt so
comfortable with the waiter that we decided to have lunch there as well.
For lunch the chef (Patricia from Argentina) came out to speak to us
since the choices were more limited (BBQ sauce had unclear ingredients;
the bottle was brought to me for confirmation). The chef told us that
she could prepare what we had in mind rather than what was on the menu.
The boys ended up having hamburgers wrapped in lettuce with steamed
vegetables on the side. My husband and I had a crab salad. I am the only
celiac in the family, but all of us went strictly gluten free after my
diagnosis (to maximize chances of health for the boys/husband wants to
support us). We were served by three different waiters on three
different occasions and all of them were very competent and helpful.
For dinner we tried Gaylord's, an Indian restaurant located just a few
blocks from our hotel. We again had the most wonderful experience. The
restaurant is clean and the atmosphere is very pleasant. You probably
know that most Indian dishes are naturally gluten free. The waiters also
showed understanding of cross contamination issues when they suggested
the Pappadums (lentil/rice/tapioca flour) to be made from scratch, baked
in the oven instead of fried, just in case their oil was accidentally
contaminated by their Naan (wheat) bread. I thought that was very
thoughtful since I never ordered Pappadums in the past for that reason.
As suggested by the listserv, I went to the SF support group Website and
printed their recommendations. We also went to the SF Whole Foods
stores. Someone with a brother living in San Francisco recommended GF
baked goods (dedicated wholesale GF bakery) called CRAVE. Thank You! We
bought a bunch of them and truly enjoyed them. These individually
wrapped cookies were perfect for my boys as presentation is very
important to them.
On the way back home we had dinner at P.F. Changs near Stanford
University. We also had a wonderful experience there, as always. For
those who may not know, P.F. Changs and the Outback Steakhouse have a GF
menu available.
Our experience in San Francisco was exactly like the responses I got.
Everyone was nice and considerate; nobody raised their eyebrows when we
told them about the diet. I will certainly try the other restaurant
suggestions next time we visit SF, possibly in June.
I pasted some of the responses below. Thank you so much to all who
contacted me despite the short notice. Not bad for my first post!
Sincerely,
Isabella Porter. California. Central Coast Celiacs Support Group.
P.S: If you live in the area, please join us :-). We currently have 78
members and are always planning wonderful activities for the group,
including community awareness events.
There is a very large Whole Foods Store that has lots of GF products.
Most restaurants will allow you to special order whatever you request.
I have been visiting here for a week and have not had one negative
experience.
I have been gluten free for over 30 years. My general rule is that I
can eat anywhere but most Italian restaurants.
The easiest thing to find is Whole Foods. There are also many private
natural food stores, and the Co-op is called the Rainbow Grocery.
I was in San Francisco back in October and had a great experience at the
Cheesecake Factory (right in the city). The wait was really long but it
was well worth it when I got my giant plate of pork chops, garlic mashed
potatoes and veggies. Despite how busy they were, they were really
helpful. They showed me the ingredients on everything. I had a great ice
cream sundae for dessert. I was at a conference so I mainly ate lunches
there but breakfast wasn't too bad. I mostly ate eggs and fruit. I had
brought my own bagels to have with me since I didn't want to have to go
out looking for bread.
My brother lives there and brought amazing GF baked goods (dedicated
bakery)from Crave in San Francisco.
We've had some good GF meals at Memphis Minnies,
http://www.memphisminnies.com <http://www.memphisminnies.com/>
Call ahead to talk to the owner - he knows a little about celiac and a
lot
about BBQ. When you order, be very, very specific: "Please do not put a
corn
muffin on my plate." However, the one time the staff did goof, they
remade the
whole plate for us with no fuss at all.
San Francisco has its own gluten-free restaurant website. It was on the
list last
week. I don't know if I saved it, but you can google it.
Contact Ellen Switkes at [log in to unmask] for lots of information
about San Francisco.
*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*
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