I knew Christmas was going to be difficult. Any holiday requiring the gluten-intolerant to eat from another's kitchen in the spirit of tradition is a glutening waiting to happen. If you have young kids and need not to be in the same relative's house the entire visit, the likelihood that you'll have to eat out increases.
I will say this: I did not get glutened at Carlos O'Kelly's. My sister, our hostess, chose this restaurant thinking that I could always eat plain beans and rice. It has worked before. I know some people won't even walk into a restaurant that doesn't have separate food preparation for gluten free food. When I feel like I have been glutened but can't put my finger on the source, it could be my own fault for going into places like Chipotle and the Whole Foods sushi fridge where I can't be sure there hasn't been cross contamination. When I told the server that I need to eat something wheat-free, he was friendly, attentive, and concerned, and he went for the manager as he couldn't say which food items I could eat.
The manager told me that all the food came from premixed and usually frozen packages that do not list their ingredients. There was no notebook on site listing ingredients. I could order water and lettuce. The other salad vegetables were part of a mix that could have contaminants.
I don't blame the manager. If he was telling me the truth, he had no tools to tell patrons what they were really eating. We were a large party, and I didn't want my disease to inconvenience others the way this and places like it inconvenience me, so I ate nothing while my family chowed down. I asked the manager to deduct what the average meal costs, essentially comping my invisible dinner. I didn't raise my voice, and he was more than happy to do this.
In fact, for the type of casual dining restaurant it is, the place was fine except that no one could tell me if there was one single thing that was safe for me to eat. We left the waiter a good tip, my son was happy, my sister was a little embarrassed but she has issues, and I wouldn't tell people who live without food allergies or intolerances not to go there.
Still: EVERY RESTAURANT SHOULD HAVE A LISTING OF ITS INGREDIENTS AVAILABLE. Period.
This is a CHAIN with nearly 50 locations in the Midwest. Chains tend to have mass produced copies of employee manuals. It should be easier for a place that mass produces its menu items to list their contents than it is for a fine dining locale, like Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger, to list those of an ever-changing menu.
I called the Ft. Wayne/Allen County Department of Health and am awaiting a return call from its public information officer. The person who answered the phone thinks a policy may have gone in effect after January 1, a few days after our visit ended, encouraging restaurants to have this information available. Not requiring but merely encouraging. Their mayor isn't named Bloomberg, though I believe that an Indiana Democrat would be an East Coast Republican.
I have also contacted the restaurant via its website survey and will add its comments should I receive a response. I am hoping I can change Carlos O'Kelly's status from Shame to Improved. We all have the right to know what we are putting in our bodies, whether it's tofu or taco salad.
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