Ever wonder where you can eat at the LAX airport?

Well, thank goodness there is at least one choice!

The Daily Grill has a Gluten Free menu including breakfast

Find more from their PDF.

http://www.dailygrill.com/menus/GlutenFreeMenu.pdf

Los Angeles Intl Airport, CA

Located on the mezzanine of Tom Bradley International Terminal, the LAX Daily Grill offers a full bar, speedy take-out service, and a private dining room. You don’t need a ticket to dine with us, so the LAX Daily Grill is perfect if you live or work near the airport. Convenient parking is just across the street.

I don’t know about you but it is tough to find a restaurant that I can eat out at when I am out with a group of friends.

Everybody is hungry but I can’t really ask that all 3 or 4 people agree to eat where I can eat. This means that I often will try a place that I am not familiar with.

In general, I have found Mexican restaurants to be safe if I stick with the Fajitas and avoid the chips. Sometimes, I can eat the chips if I can talk to someone from the kitchen who really understands the nature of my questions and is 100% transparent about what happens in the kitchen.

I have dined at 2 Acapulco Restaurant locations and have found the 2 to be safe as long as I eat Fajitas and avoid the chips.

1. Acapulco Restaurant
6270 East Pacific Coast Highway
Long Beach, CA 90803
(562) 596-3371

2. Acapulco Restaurant
12765 Beach Boulevard,
Stanton, CA
(714) 895-4444

At the Stanton restaurant, I actually had the chips and salsa with no reactions but I think I might have just been lucky that night. I found at at the PCH location that they do deep fry the chips with other gluten laded foods so I avoid the chips even though it is hard when everyone else is chowing down in front of me. Oh well, such as it is for us celiacs.

Is the Islands Restaurant @ Long Beach Towne Center on Carson and the 605 a safe to eat for us sensitive celiacs?

Well, at this point, I can tell you that their Cheddar Cheese Fries ordered WITHOUT spices are most definitely safe.

Turns out that they do use a dedicated fryer for their fries so that was a good start. Then, I ordered without spices to be sure since one can never know about those spices.

No reaction so that was a good decision on my part. Now, I know I can eat their regular fries as well (just so long as I order without their spices).

I haven’t eaten anything else there, yet, but the do have a gluten free printout for you when you go to the restaurant.

So, ask for the printout ( or get it here in advance) and then make sure you order without spices unless you are adventurous. Do that and be sure you tell your waitstaff that you are gluten intolerant and want things cooked separately from other items and you should be safe.

Happy eating!

I found a wonderful place on Broadway in Long Beach that serves a gluten free brunch.

Paradise Piano Bar and Restaurant located at 1800 East Broadway Long Beach , CA has a very nice restaurant area. It’s open and bright with lots of windows and very, very friendly place to dine.

I’ve been there twice now for brunch and as long as you ask for the chef by the name of Veronica, you are good to go. I think you might be okay even without Veronica behind the stove but just to be safe, I call ahead to be sure Veronica is in the kitchen.

Brunch is served 2 days a week, not just Sunday. They serve Friday, Sat and Sunday and for myself, I know that Veronica is on at noon on Sunday so that is my time to dine.

Just tell the waiter to tell Veronica you meal needs to be gluten free and you can order an omelet (you make your own with fresh ingredients) and yes, the hash browns and bacon are safe to eat.

From my understanding, they have designated areas on the grill where only the same items (ie. bacon, hash browns, ets) are cooked so there is no worry about cross contamination. Still, I remind the waiter to tell Veronica “gluten free” and there has not been an issue.

So, if you are looking for a new place for brunch, this is a super nice place….plus get mimosa’s for $3. I have not tried their $3 bloody mary’s (to many unknown ingredients in the spices).

I want to go back and try their lunch and dinner menu as well…..will call ahead to be sure Veronica is cooking. Till then….

Breakfast is one of my favorite times to eat out but I have not had a lot of good luck finding a gluten free breakfast restaurant.

Then, my friend Shari Sanders, a so cal youth volleyball coach, told me about Mimi’s Cafe in Lakewood. She said she was sure that they would be able to accommodate me since she has taken several of her volleyball players to dine there and one of them has gluten intolerance.

Turns out that Mimi’s Cafe has a list of allergens but you do have to ask for it as a list of allergens and not a ‘gluten free’ menu. Not everyone there was attuned to the gluten issue so be sure to ask to speak to the head chef. In my case, the head chef came directly to my table and we went over the ingredients of my omelette before ordering. I really appreciated the attention I received on a busy Sunday morning.

I had no reaction and now, Mimi’s Cafe is on my list of places to eat in Long Beach, CA!

Who is your cell phone provider?

Most people would say Verizon or AT & T or some big nationwide provider. But mine is the simple, elegant, low-cost and may I say, the-most-honest, cell phone provider…..Metro PCS.

And I absolutely love them.

In their Navigation menu, I can setup a list of local searches. I did this and listed all the gluten free chain restaurants that I know about, have researched and have personally dined at in Southern California.

This list of local searches is always stored so when I am in a new area, all I have to do is access my serached in local search, find the name of one of the restuarants and I am set to find someplace I can eat with peace of mind.

Want to know my list of Sothern California gluten free restaurants?

Soon, I will publish this info. Stay tuned for the latest information.

Don’t you wish that local restaurants understand the value of catering to gluten sensitive people?

Don’t you wish all restaruants would become a member of The Gluten Intolerance Group of North America?

If restaurants understood that we are a huge market of consumers dying for places to dine out other than just our local Outback Steakhouse, then we would see more restaurants learning about gluten intolerance and how to make their restuarant safe for us celiacs.

Here is what The Gluten Intolerance Group would do for restuarant owners, if only they would get how they could really reap more profits by servicing the Gluten Sensitives of this world….

“The Gluten-Free Restaurant Awareness Program facilitates a relationship between individuals with celiac disease and other forms of gluten intolerance, and restaurants. The relationship builds a win-win opportunity for restaurants to provide service to people following a gluten-free diet, and to gain increased patronage. Participating restaurants are able to provide gluten-free meals from their regular meals. GFRAP is a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America.

Participating GFRAP restaurants enthusiastically welcome gluten-free diners. By working together, using consistent guidelines and listing participating restaurants on one website, we are creating a growing network that allows those following a gluten-free diet to socialize and travel with more confidence in dining away from home.

To search for participating restaurants in your area, visit the Gluten-Free Restaurant web site at
www.glutenfreerestaurants.org/

While researching local gluten free restaurants online in the Long Beach CA area, you might come across this link:
http://www.urbanspoon.com/tn/5/1/437/LA/Gluten-Free-Friendly/Long-Beach-restaurants

Or do a search on yelp.com for “gluten-free” and you will get a list of restaurants that might appear to be somewhere new to dine GF in the Long Beach area.

But, I just have to warn you that you cannot rely on the accuracy of the restaurants listed on either of these sites.

I spent an afternoon researching and calling each restaurant listed on these two restaurant review sites as “gluten-free friendly” on urbanspoon or found under the search for “gluten-free” at yelp.

To my dismay, I found that only approximately 20% of the restaurants listed on these two review sites were actually even aware of what gluten intolerant meant.

I really loved it when I called KAVIKAS Grill & Bar (listed on urbanspoon as “gluten-free friendly”) and the person answering the phone did not even know what the word, gluten meant and kept trying to tell me that they have a kid-friendly menu.

Same for Frontier Burgers….I talked to a manger there and they have no clue what gluten is, let alone what it means to have gluten-free items on their menu.

To their credit, urbanspoon did remove the above 2 restaurants above from the ‘gluten-free friendly’ list once they saw my comments that I posted that exposed these restaurants as GF frauds.

As for yelp.com, I think that it is the technology that is at fault on yelp.com. Just the mention of gluten in the reviews puts the site on the list but that does not mean the restaurant is gluten free…only that someone used that word in some way other than gluten-free in their comments.

See my review on Claim Jumper (don’t go there) at
http://www.yelp.com/biz/claim-jumper-long-beach

As for urbanspoon….I don’t know how the restaurants get on the list. They need to check a box that says, ‘gluten-free friendly’ and it could be that as the trend increases, restaurants will just check the box to get on the list even if they are not even aware of what gluten intolernace or celiac disease is all about.

To be better informed, I suggest that you return often to this website. As I eat around town (I am currently working my way through ‘gluten-free friendly’ restaurants listed on urbanspoon that I called and seem like they might be safe), I will report back on the restaurants you can truly count on since I am extremely sensitive. If I can eat there, then so can any celiac or gluten intolerant diner.

Stay tuned for more personal reviews!

I love gyros and I love Greek food but I haven’t had it in years. Not since I found out I had celiac disease around 8 years ago.

Imagine how happy I was when I found that there is a local dining place for Gyros!

It’s right near Whole Foods on PCH which makes it a lovely place to stop and grab a Gyro meal sans the pita bread when I am buying my Whole Foods GF items.

You would not necessarily know that the restaurant that I am referring to is a Greek food place since it is called, Chicken Dijon.

And when you first enter, you might think that all they have is rotisserie chicken since that is all they have posted on their menu board but they do have 3 menu items that contain gyros. Just look for the gyro placards on the counter by the cash register.

They have a gyro meal with fantastic tasing and completely gluten-free Mediterranean fries and steamed veggies. Or you can get their gryo salad with a completely gluten free dressing. Or you can order their gryo sandwich - order without the pita bread, of course.

Again, just be sure to order any of their gyros choices, including the salad, without the pita bread since not every person who takes your orders even knows that pita bread has wheat in it (no kidding…the kid that waited on me was oblivious).

As an added note, I have read that all of the Rotisseie chicken meals are gluten free as are the sides that include the salad, hummus, baba ganoush, backed potatoes and the delicious Mediterranean fries which are fries sprinkled with olive oil and feta cheese (which must be gluten free since I did not have a reaction).

I just haven’t had a chance to try the chicken items to be sure.

Although this Chicken Dijon is not a fancy restaurant, it does have tables outside on the patio which makes for a nice, low-key dining experience.

Chicken Dijon has many locations around southern California. Go to their website at www.chickendijon.com to find the nearest one to you and enjoy!

The website urbanspoon.com lists George’s Greek Cafe in Long Beach and Lakewood to be gluten friendly so I gave the Lakewood location a call.

Interestingly, one of the people in management has just been diagnosed with celiac so I was able to get the inside scoop on this popular Greek restaurant.

Basically, the gyros and the salad dressing contain a minuscule amount of gluten as well as most of the meats and salad options since all of these items include their specialty Greek seasoning.

I loved the honesty of the person I talked to who was good enough to be very clear that their Greek seasoning does contain a tiny amount of gluten at less than 1%. For me, that little bit makes a big difference and the only way I can dine at George’s Greek Cafe is to order everything without any seasoning -what’s the fun in that!

For the sensitives like myself, I can order meats from the menu by asking for meats without the seasoning (don’t try this at the downtown location as they are too busy there). I will also not be able to have a salad there since their only salad dressing also contains the seasoning.

For those not so sensitive, just know that the beef and lamb gyros do contain bread crumbs and the chicken gyros do not. Still, all the gyros do have their Greek seasoning so order with that in mind.

One more thing-if you are planning at dining at any one of the 3 locations of George’s Greek Cafe, you can ask for their list of items on the menu that do contain gluten. They will gladly provide you with this list (or so I am told) so that you can eliminate what you cannot eat and perhaps find something that will not give you a gluten reaction.

As for me, I will stick to the one place I know that I can eat the gyros and salad dressing…..see my post about my favorite local Greek food establishement, Chicken Dijon.