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George and Sharon have both already summarized the Chicago
restaurants quite well, and they covered off all the great
suggestions that were sent to me as well.  Thanks again to all who
responded.

However, in our sojourn to Chicago, we ended up eating at a place
that was NOT mentioned by anyone.

Fogo de Chao Churrascaria
661 N. LaSalle St.
Chicago
312-932-9330
http://fogodechao.com

They also have locations in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and (later this
year) Beverly Hills.  Plus 4 locations in Brazil, which is where they
started.

My husband and I wanted to try this place, having seen it in Chicago,
before I was eating a GF diet.  My husband STILL wanted to try it, so
thought what the hey, and he called to ask about how easy it might be
for me to eat there.

It turns out that with a small handful of foods, this restaurant is,
in fact, entirely GF without changing a thing.  The only foods I
could not eat were the traditional bread (which is only on the buffet
and not served to the table) and the tabouleh.  And, of the meats, I
had to steer clear of just one -- the chicken drumsticks, which were
marinated in beer.  I didn't eat the salad dressings, because they
did not make those on premise and the manager was unsure of what was
in them.

The dinner begins with a salad bar worthy of the finest cruise ship.
Tender steamed asparagus spears of about 14" long, and nearly 1" in
diameter.  All manner of mixed salads, cheeses, smoked fish, much
even a bit exotic in nature.  The manager told me what ingredients
were in each dish, and I was able to eat all except the tabouleh.
While I didn't eat the dressings, they had four different kinds of
olive oil and four kinds of wine or basalmic vinegars to choose from.

Then comes the meat.  Spit roasted pork, beef, lamb, sausages (which
I avoided) and chicken.  I think the waiter said there were something
like 15 different cuts of meat.  They bring as much as you want, and
for as long as you want.  The meats are primarily seasoned with rock
salt and pepper, and are incredible.  To the table they bring
wonderful rolls made from tapioca flour (very much like Chebe breads,
but better than any I've ever made!), mashed potatoes, deep fried
polenta and deep fried bananas -- all GF, and with no foods that are
not GF being fried at all (so no oil contamination).  The little
rolls were so yummy that we were all fighting each other over them --
though, they kept filling up the basket as we scarfed them down.

And, for dessert, we had a pretty good flan -- usually something that
is reliably GF, though the manager confirmed this for me as well.
There may have been one other dessert I could have, but I was unsure
enough about it to pass.

Honestly, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Cheap it's not --
about $40 per person, not including drinks or dessert.  But, if
you're in Chicago, and looking for a special-occasion place, I hope
others will consider it.  And go hungry!  I find, when I travel, I
tend to eat like a wolf or a shark ... whenever there's food I can
eat, I eat plenty, because I know other safe food will be hard to
come by.  :-)  And, as it turned out, that was the only place on my
trip that wasn't risky for me.

I might also add that the manager, as well as the person we had
originally called in the corporate offices, were VERY solicitous and
made me feel SO welcome there.  The corporate person said she wishes
there were some way to get word out about the restaurant being so
celiac friendly -- so I guess I'm doing a bit of that by posting to
this list.

-Suzanne

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