restaurant ideas?

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celia
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restaurant ideas?

Post by celia »

Hi,

We had a farewell dinner with some good friends last night at a Japanese/Chinese restaurant. I had yellowtail (fish), miso soup, and some edamame. The yellowtail was heavily seasoned with salt, but no other ingredients. However, there was a little crust so I couldn't help but wonder about flour. I ate around the crust.

I felt fine at first, but I did feel sick in my tummy a few hours later and all through the night. Plus, I had a very weird feeling reaction first around my chest, then it moved to my left wrist. There it felt like a big bubble and a sharp pain. I can't describe the feeling in my chest.

I know the salt creates more stomach acid which is a no-no for h.pylori---so maybe that was the problem. I'm okay now.

I know my brother will want to go out to a lot of restaurants while I'm visiting him in the Seattle area. Do you have any suggestions for the safest foods to order in a restaurant?

Thanks! Celia

PS My biggies are: gluten, corn, sugar, casein, grains, legumes, starchy vegetables, msg. Not sure about soy, but I was okay with it and eggs on muscle testing.
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Post by Sally »

Hi, Celia,

I used to work in a Chinese restaurant when I was tending bar. I used to eat dinner there all the time because it was complimentary. Well, that was a mistake. I got to the point where I was so sick every night, I could not do my job. MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE!! Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. If you go to eat Chinese food ask them to hold the MS.

It's nice to meet you, by the way. Of course, it would be even nicer under different circumstances, but better this way than never! :bear:

Love,

Sally
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Post by cludwig »

Hi Celia,

I live in the area and there are 3 restaurants that say they serve gluten free meals. The first is Cafe flora (www.cafeflora.com/ ), ..next is a bakery called Flying apron bakery (www.flyingapron.net/ )....and the last one is Kaili's kitchen--wheatless in Seattle (www.naturalchoice.net/). I'm still in the healing stages and have not been brave enough to eat out...but they all get great reviews. Enjoy your visit.

Love,
Cristi
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celia
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Post by celia »

Thank you Crisit, very helpful!

Hello Sally, nice to crosspaths with you as I am about to exit the forum slowly over the next few weeks. I've heard so many wonderful things about you. Glad you are back! Celia
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Post by Jean »

Celia,

When I go out, I order plain items, like steak or fish. I have them broiled and I make sure to tell them not to put any butter on them (most restaurants butter both). I usually ask for a house salad instead of the usual sides. I order vinegar and oil on the side. Even steamed veggies have gotten me because they come to the restaurant precut and soaked in something that made me sick. Beverage is iced tea (ask if it's presweetened), hot tea or coffee. It's boring, but I don't get sick.

I find it's much easier to order something I know should be safe then ask about what's in a dish. Sometimes the chef doesn't even know because items are bought in (like the veggies I mentioned above). Most are unaware of all the ingredients that could cause us problems.

Of course, if you like sushi that's a whole other pleasure.

Love, Jean

PS I assume you know that miso soup is made from soy.
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Post by tex »

Celia,

I'm thinking that I read somewhere that chinese chefs are so used to using MSG, that they use small amounts, even when they say they don't. They supposedly have the opinion that very small amounts won't hurt anyone, (sorta like the food chemist who responded to Marsha's old post, a couple of weeks back).

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Post by celia »

Jean, this is sage advice! I am going to stick with your approach from now on. I ate too many different things to know what the culprit was. I don't think I react to soy, but I'm not sure.

Tex, I guess there is no safety for us in a Chinese restaurant even if it's first and foremost Japanese! It would definitely not have been my choice, but it was later and da-da-da.

Will let you know how it goes in Seattle.

Hugs, Celia
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Post by MaggieRedwings »

Morning Celia,

Since going GF I have avoided Miso because to my knowledge it is made from fermented barley and that is not GF. Could this have been the problem? Someone correct me if I am wrong about the derivation of miso. I love it and would like to eat it again.

Love, Maggie
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Post by tex »

You're correct, Maggie,

Actually, there many different types of miso. The most common varieties are:

Red Miso
White Miso
Barley Miso
Soybean Miso

Looking at how they are made, probably the only one that does not contain at least some barley, is the soybean miso, and I wonder if a small amount of barley isn't used in it also, to initiate the malting process.

http://www.soya.be/miso-varieties.php

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Tex
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celia
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Post by celia »

Really, really good point Maggie! My brain was thinking "soybeans" and it was white miso. But barley could have been the issue. Thanks for the info Tex. I really have to keep it simple in the future. I literally have not been to a restaurant for about two years.

Thanks, Celia
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Post by Lucy »

Hi there,

Often find myself eating seafood in restaurants that don't know about the contents of their meat -- like the ones that get their from one of the large food services for restaurants which it seems so many of them do nowadays.
There are probably some that have uninjected meats, but I've not done enough research to find them.

Something I've recently found gives us alot more variety is a new Kosher restaurant that's very close to us.
They don't have ANYTHING with dairy, and that helps lots. Also, they use Kosher meats which aren't injected.

Not everything has eggs in it, so that's not a problem. They add some things to some of the meats that contain wheat due to their recipes.

As always, one has to be concerned about marinades, and spices, etc., but you can always ask about that there.

Still have to go through the whole spiel the first time you eat there, of course.
Our Kosher place is run by a lady who is originally from Iran, so there's a definite Persian menu available here.
Guess the influence in any of these Kosher restaurants will depend on the national origin of the owner or chef, so that's something you might want to check into before going.

I think that there may be some regulation about where the breads are made, as ours is made in a separate room from where our food is cooked.

The safest thing at a Kosher Persian place would be the Kabobs, probably, depending on what they do to it, of course.

If there's seafood on the menu, I'll sometimes get plan fish and doctor it up with something or a shrimp cocktail. With the latter, I can sometimes get the chef to bring me some freshly chopped horseraddish along with some Heinz ketchu, and mix my own cocktail sauce. Squeeze a little lemon juice on any of this stuff, and that will pick up the flavor a bit.

A baked potato is always nice. It's hard to mess one up, but they still manage to do it. Even the gf national steak restaurant soaks their white and sweet potatoes ahead of time in butter before cooking them.

They cook them in the oven, so you wouldn't want to wait on one to cook, even assuming they would have any left that didn't already have the butter.

If you want to be sure, I would call ahead, even as far ahead as the night before, and ask 'em to rescue one for you before the butter's added to them all.

That way, they'll have a chance to tell you before you waste your time going there, if they can't do that for you.

I'll bet that Outback would be willing to do that for you.

If I were going to the Pacific Northwest, I'd probably be eating salmon every night. If you like salmon, you just may have it made. You can always get a green salad of some sort, and specify what you want on it. Be sure that they know that crotons can't have touched your salad or they will have to make another from scratch rather than just take them off the original one. Also, don't forget to tell them, "No cheese."

Most restaurants will at least have olive oil, and if you don't want the yeast or nitrites from wine vinegar, you could ask for some extra lemon halves to squeeze on with the olive oil. I'm thinking that some fresh dill might go nicely over this sort of salad to go with fish. Then, there's always salt and pepper.

When I go to a local steak place near here, I get the wait staff to bring some plain honey along with some plain French's mustard, so that I can make my own honey mustard dressing at the table. Think I add a little more honey than mustard, and that's about right.

Oh, and on a baked potato, I like a good olive oil really well, especially with some rosemary sprinkled over the top.

At the steak restaurant, I ask that the staff not even cut my sweet potato, and that reduces the risk of someone using a bread knife to cut the potato. Also, it keeps the potato hot while I'm working on getting Mom's food cut-up, etc.

At our place, I had to caution lots in the beginning, about the chef not forgetting about the fried onions they normally place on top of the steak as a garnish -- their batter has wheat in it.
They also would do the butter on it, if I don't remind them.

For some reason, they've become really good at doing our order in the last year, even though we don't go there but maybe once a month.

I think one thing that has helped (besides always first talking to the manager) is the fact that after they'd gone to the trouble to get everything right, I wrote a glowing note of appreciation, complimenting everyone from the manager to the chef to the wait person for the attention to detail to our allergens paid by their staff.

I write these little notes right on the thing I sign to pay the bill, and sign off with our family last name (plural).
That seems to help them to remember us better.

I always check the menu to see what would normally have the fewest no-no's and be more easily made into something that we can eat. This makes it much less likely that someone will get confused. It's lots easier to request a perfectly plain steak or fish or shrimp than it is something that's more complicated.

Unfortunately, it seems that lately, when mixed veggies are offered as sides, they invariably are pre-prepared way ahead of time by soaking them in butter. If you could call ahead and get these done in olive oil instead, and even grilled, that is usually very good.

Make sure they understand you react to even a molecule, so that any utensil, or pot/pan used with your food has to freshly washed, and not come into contact with any of your allergens during or after the cooking process.

They can use a spot on the grill that is clean or else scrape thoroughly a spot to accommodate your grilled food -- steak, grilled shrimp, etc.

Enjoy yourself while you are there!
Yours, Luce
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