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Thank you to all who took the time to give me the great tips for eating GF
in Branson. Following are the recommended restaurants and info:
Branson Restaurants
Branson has just about every major chain that you can imagine from fast food
to better restaurants.
We have Wendys, McDonalds, Panera (soup, salads and sandwiches), Lone Star
Steakhouse, Bob Evans, Cracker Barrel, Golden Corral, Country Kitchen, Dennys,
Ruby Tuesdays, Olive Garden, Shoneys, Landrys, TCBY, Dairy Queen, Red
Lobster, Steak n Shake.
Lone Star -- unseasoned steak, chicken or pork chop, plain baked potato, and
green salad with fresh lemon or oil and vinegar. Lone Star now says that
they recommend their steak and Ka Bobs only and green salad without dressing.
(See below.) The baked potatoes are rubbed with bacon grease on the outside
so they do not consider them GF either. We do eat them and just don't eat
the peeling with no problem, but that is up to you. We also eat the steamed
vegetables but ask for them plain.
Here is their most recent response: The following options exist:
plain, non-spiced steak that is not Jacarded (a restaurant tool that pokes
tiny holes in meat to aid in cooking)
non-spiced, beef kabobs (steak, mushrooms, green pepper, tomato, and yellow
onion), non-spiced
chicken kabob (chicken, mushrooms, green pepper, tomato, and yellow onion)
plain salad (iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, red cabbage, and carrots), and
oil and vinegar.
Please tell the manager and your server your wishes. Make sure that you tell
them about your condition and order your steaks with no spices and no use of
the Jacard. If you choose to order beef or chicken kabobs, order them with
no spices.
Landry's They have fresh seafood, among other things - not particularly
knowledgeable, but very cooperative. It's on the main strip.
Shorty Smalls. They were very accommodating.
My waiter had a 12 yr old CD bro. The chef was very patient and fixed some
cajun style shrimp for me to die for.
She was very savy in the allergy thing and kept my dish away from
everything! I truly appreciated it.
Golden Corral--the only meat that they can be sure is GF is the ground
sirloin patty. It is not on the buffet -- you need to order from the menu. They
prepare it on the premises -- it is not shipped in individually wrapped or
anything. Had that and a baked potato and green salad, fresh fruit from the
buffet and vanilla softserve.
Plaza View Restaurant at the Plaza Hotel-- They are open Tuesday thru
Saturday evenings I think this time of year. You will need to explain your needs
to the staff, but they can prepare a GF meal for you. Usually has chopped
steak, baked potato, and green salad.
Bad Experiences:
I went to Outback there. Which I believe is not associated with the
national chain. I had forgotten. It was a mess and I suffered miserably!
The same with Ruby Tues. They were not very careful! They also had flies
zooming the salad bar so I couldn't eat off of that.
There is a store/restuarant that I can't think of the name off hand, but it
is kind of old fashioned, starts with a C or something like that. They were
supposed to understand and be careful and I had bad reactions. I believe
that they were not as careful as they said. They are at the end of 76 close
to Shepherd of the Hills Express.
There are other small mom and pop restaurants in Branson West and a Pizza
Hut, Taco Bell and McDonalds (presently closed) which is about 4-5 miles north
of Kimberling City, but we have not had any luck with any of them.
Misc:
We have a health food store right on the strip called Natures Sunshine that
carries Kinnikinnick products -- buns, donuts, bread, cookies -- among other
GF products. Our Country Mart grocery store on Route 248 near KMart (in
Branson -- I just heard the one in Hollister has some GF foods as well) also
carries a lot of GF products in their health food section. They have GF cereals,
Tinkyada pasta, EnerG granola bars, GF cookies and crackers, etc.
There's also a nice health food store on the right as you turn on 76 (off
of 65) and go west . Wish I could give you an address, but I can't. Phone
book would have it, I'm sure. (It's in the same complex as a quilt store, and
lots of other shops.)
Dixie Stampede is a dinner show and is lots of fun. If you decide to go
there, call ahead and speak with the kitchen manager. Had the naked chicken
(plain baked chicken, no spices), sweet corn, potato, beverage, and brought a GF
brownie for dessert. The biscuit and soup are not GF. You can also order a
vegetarian plate -- I think that it was ok, but you would need to ask for
sure.
Try going to www.goodhealthpublishing.com for a list of 70+
national/regional
restaurants and their lists of gluten/wheat free items. There's also a
gluten free dining card that can be presented to restaurant personnel to
ease the ordering process
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