Restaurants and eating out...

BeesKnees181

What has your luck been with restaurants (chains or not) that have been dairy free friendly? What is your method of attack when you go out to eat and want to avoid dairy?

sfh0wrd

The worst for me is salads. I have a hard time remembering that just because I never add cheese to salads doesn't mean other people aren't going to. I just can't get it through my head! That and the fact that most fast food restaurants make their salads ahead of time and toss the cheese all around. Chic Fil A leaves it in one clump, but still.

I just have to ask "Is this a cream based soup/sauce?" or "If there is any cheese on this at all, leave it off please, I'm allergic."

The allergic thing really works. I'm not going to go into anaphylactic shock or anything, but the word "allergic" makes people pay more attention than just saying "No cheese."

There is a local coffee shop here, and the menu is killer. Both because it all sounds delicious and because it focuses heavy on cheese and cream. Bummer. But I enjoy the coffee!

Oh! One place that I was SO impressed with was LuLu's in Gulf Shores, AL. They have seperate allergen-free menus. The manager had to come out and take my order, and bring it to the table. For me, that is ranging into the "I feel like a burden on society" territory, but worth it in the end. Delicious meal that didn't upset my stomach one bit.

SEDIMATTEO

Asian food is the easiest. There is very little dairy used. Breakfast food has been a nightmare. I can't even have anything with butter flavoring, so the preparation has to be dairy free. No butter flavored Pam. I do have systemic reactions... As far as coffee goes, Starbucks has soy milk. It takes 10 minutes to order my vente, half-caff, soy, vanilla Latte, but it's SOOO tasty!

BeesKnees181

I have been at a conference the past two days for work. Talk about being overcome by dairy; it was in everything! I should have talked to the catering staff and asked for a cheese free salad. My stomach is royally messed up; so, it looks like I will have to get with the people at my next conference and make a special request. This is the part that is frustrating...i Pay the same registartaion fee as everyone else for a conference, but I can not eat a single item they serve. ARGH!:explode:

Amom2Two

Eating out is a nightmare. I mostly eat Sushi, tossed salads and chinese food when I do eat out.. I also have food allergies to beef, pork, cod and wine. Though I did find a blueberry wine that I can drink so I was able to get some wine back into my diet. :blushing:

The worst part of being dairy free and having food allegies, is when family invites you over and then throws you a raw chicken breats to cook because they don't know what I can and can not eat.

amazon69

Chipotle is great because the only dairy there is the cheese and sour cream. Outback Steakhouse is very good. All you have to do is tell your server you have a food allergy and they will tell you what you can have on the menu. I also take my Earth Balance spread for bread when my husband and I have gone out to eat and I haven't had an issue with any restaurant.