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May We Serve You
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A Panel Discussion
summarized by Jim Lyles
A panel discussion on dining out with special diets was held at the
TCCSSG meeting held on May 8, 1995. We had two speakers:
* Skip Julius, head chef at Big Boy Corporation
* Susan Baer, chairperson of the Hospitality Department at Oakland
Community College's School of Hotel and Restaurant Management
What follows are some highlights of the two talks and the
question/answer session that followed:
Skip Julius has been the Corporate Executive Chef at Big Boy for the
last four years. Prior to that he was Executive Chef at a number of
places, including the Hotel Ponchatrain and the Main Event at the
Pontiac Silverdome. He is also a certified executive chef in the
American Culinary Federation, the governing body for chefs all across
America. He has a degree in Food Science & Nutrition from Wayne
State College.
Susan Baer suggested that our group do a presentation to the Chef's
Club, to make more chefs aware our the needs of a celiac. From this
we might be able to develop a list of "safe" restaurants or "safe"
chefs for group members to use. The Michigan Restaurant Association
and the Retail Bakers Association are two other groups we could
consider for making a presentation on the gluten-free diet.
Skip related a story from 1984. He was chef at a country club. A
man approached him and told him his wife had a grain allergy. He
said she would become deathly ill and need immediate hospitalization
if she had even a small amount of flour. His serious demeanor
convinced Skip at once that this was not a case of someone being
fussy or unreasonable. So Skip carefully prepared the meal himself,
according to the man's instructions. The woman suffered no ill
effects, and in the future they always made it a point to come back
to him. The point of this story is that we celiacs must do the same.
Whenever you eat out, you must go directly to the person who is
preparing your food and have a one-on-one discussion about your
special diet needs. Don't go through the waitress or manager; these
people only act as middlemen and something is likely to be lost in
the translation.
Chefs generally don't know about gliadin and gluten. The ingredients
they use are often produced in another part of the country, so that
the GF status is generally unknown. Therefore, celiacs must always
play it safe: If there is any doubt whatsoever about an entree, then
a celiac should avoid it.
The restaurant card, which summarizes the diet, is a great tool. You
should always take it with you and show it to the chef. It is
important to pick a time when the chef is not rushed. Either go in
ahead of time and warn the chef when you are coming, or eat before or
after the dinner rush. Another choice is to call ahead of time and
send the information to the chef; then call back later and make sure
the chef got it. Then, when you get to the restaurant check with the
chef so he'll know that the one who sent him the card has arrived.
There are professional chefs, and there are "chefs". The
professional chef is more likely to spend extra time and attention on
customers with special needs.
At this point the two speakers began to answer questions.
Q: What are the safest things for a celiac to eat?
A: Fresh produce and broiled items. Many other items can be
questionable. For example, most restaurants buy their soups frozen.
These have many additives to increase shelf life and enhance taste.
Of course, these additives could mean trouble for celiacs.
Q: What is the best time of day to call a restaurant?
A: From 2-4 pm, or early morning.
Many restaurants have a night chef that takes over when the
executive chef goes home. This is another potential stumbling block.
If you call ahead in the morning or early afternoon, the chef you
talk with may not be the one who actually prepares your food. In the
hustle and bustle at shift change, the night chef might never receive
the information that you gave the executive chef earlier in the day.
This is another reason why it is important to check in with the chef
personally after you arrive at the restaurant.
Q: How safe is fried food for celiacs?
A: In most restaurants, all deep fried food is prepared in the same
unit. Some of the gluten from breaded items can end up on items that
would otherwise be GF. Therefore celiacs should generally avoid
fried foods.
Note that a waitperson may call something fried when it fact it
is sautied in its own pan. Some sautied foods may be okay for
celiacs to eat. This is another example of why talking directly to
the chef is best.
Q: What about grilled food?
A: 50-75% of restaurants have a large flat cooking surface that
everything is cooked on. This poses a real threat of
cross-contamination. For example, the gluten-free hamburger patty
you ordered may be cooked on the same surface that had previously
cooked french toast. This is typical of most family restaurants.
However, if you ask you can have your food prepared in a separate
pan.
Q: What does Big Boy have that would be safe for celiacs?
A: Skip said that he would research Big Boy's menu and come up with
a list of items on the menu that are gluten-free. He warned that
this is a monumental task, and it would take some time, as he's going
to have to check each component in the various recipes and in some
cases contact the manufacturer or supplier of these components.
Most of the items on the salad bar are okay for celiacs.
Q: How long will this list be valid, once we get it?
A: Big Boy has a large set of "core" items that never change;
approximately 70%. They don't generally change products associated
with the core items; when something is successful you don't mess with
it. So the list should remain useful for a long time once we get it.
Q: Are salad bar items prepared centrally or at each restaurant?
A: At Big Boy, much of the food is prepared at their central
commissary and then distributed to the individual restaurants. This
is done to ensure consistency in their products from one restaurant
to another.
Q: Is the vinegar safe?
A: Typically Big Boy uses grain vinegar. Some have red wine
vinegar available.
Q: How often is the oil used in deep fryers changed?
A: There is a lot of variation from one restaurant to another. In
family restaurants it is usually FILTERED once or twice a day. The
oil is only changed once every four to eight days. (Editor's note:
This even makes McDonald's fries suspect, as it is quite likely that
the same oil is used for cooking hash browns in the morning, and
their hash browns are not GF.)
Q: Is balsamic vinegar safe?
A: It is made from a grape with a high sugar content, and is aged
for seven years in seven different types of wooden casks, so it
should be safe.
Q: What about "au jus" beef dishes?
A: The beef base used is often not GF at many restaurants.
Q: When you see a bottle of Heinz ketchup on the table in a
restaurant, is it safe to assume that it really is Heinz brand?
A: Nearly always this will be true. Neither speaker has heard of
anyone filling one brand of bottle with another brand of ketchup. If
you happen eat at a place where they do this, they are not going to
tell you about it anyway. Skip stressed that if this happens
anywhere at all, it is very, very rare.
Q: Would Big Boy consider putting some desserts on the menu that
are normally GF anyway, such as mousse?
A: It is all based on sales. When a new product is developed, it
is test marketed. If it doesn't sell well, it is dropped.
Q: Which of the condiments at Big Boy are GF?
A: They use French's mustard and Heinz Ketchup (which are both GF
according to the manufacturers*editor). Salad dressings & mayonnaise
are made in house, and probably contain white (grain-distilled)
vinegar.
Q: Are the meat and cheese in the Julienne Salad safe? Could they
be contaminated when they are cut up
A: At Big Boy all the cutting for these products is done at the
commissary. They have a detailed list of ingredients for all
products. Feel free to call the commissary; they get questions all
the time from diabetics, people that react to MSG, etc. They may not
be able to answer your question immediately, but they will look it up
and get back with you.
(Editor's note: The phone numbers for the Big Boy commissary
are (810) 755-8146, -8147, and -8148.)
Q: Do Big Boy restaurants at other locations have their own
commissaries? Do the same rules apply for them?
A: The Detroit-based company controls Big Boy franchise rights
throughout the world. They directly control about 300 restaurants,
which includes Michigan, the Cleveland, Ohio area, West Virginia,
Pennsylvania, and Canada. At other locations there are other
franchisees that operate Big Boy restaurants. Big Boy makes
recommendations to these other franchise operators, and provides some
of the products. However, these other franchise operators often use
local suppliers. So the bottom line is: The information shared at
the meeting, and the list of GF products we ultimately get, can only
be considered valid for the 300 restaurants controlled directly by
Big Boy Corporation.
Q: Which of the sandwiches at Big Boy are safe to order without the
bread?
A: The Slim Jim is partially assembled at the commissary, which
means the meat and cheese have already made contact with the bun.
Therefore, celiacs should never order a Slim Jim at Big Boy.
However, all other sandwiches are assembled at the individual
restaurants, so you can order any of the others without a bun,as long
as the remaining ingredients are GF.
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