Mongolian Barbecue

Address:
9200 N Lamar Blvd
Ste 100
Austin, TX 78753
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(Part of Town: North)
Phone: 512-837-4898
Cost:
Type of Food: Chinese

For those who haven't been to a Mongolian BarBQ before let me take a moment to explain. You go down a cafeteria style line, and put into the empty bowl they've given you all the fresh raw ingredients that you want cooked on the big "shield" by the nice "mongol." You pick your vegetables, if you want it meat, skip the noodles, skip the soy sauce, and skip the combination sauce which has soy sace in it, and season to taste with ginger, garlic, wine, and other options, and then eat a nice healthy meal. (Oh, and if you go at dinner skip the dumplings, and check to see if the soups are safe, I've never asked since I don't care for the soup.)

When you get your bowl of ingredients and sauce up to the nice man at the grill, tell him, or the waiter who greets you there, that you need the grill cleaned, and your food cooked alone (or if your friends and family have no soy sauce then identify the other bowls yours can be cooked along side.) The same utencil is used for all meals on the grill at any given time, so if other folks have soy sauce you'll get contamination. They are happy to clean the grill, though you may get moved back a few slots in line to help keep it flowing freely.

The food is good and the staff very nice and accomodating, and at roughly $10 per person, for the meal and a drink, this is a reasonably priced dinner. (Lunch is closer to $8 per person.)

 
Iron Cactus

Address:
606 Trinity Street
Austin, TX 78701
(Part of Town: Downtown)
Phone: 512-472-9240
Cost:
Type of Food: TexMex

Recommended Items: Fajita Tacos, substitute corn tortilla for the flour ones. I order it with no cheese since I have problems with casein.

This recommendation thanks to anonymous

 
Mekong River

Address:
215 E. 6th Street
Austin, TX 78701
(Part of Town: Downtown)
Phone: 512-236-8878
Cost:
Type of Food: Veietnamese & Thai cuisine

Recommended Items: I usually get the shrimp fried rice with no soy sauce.

This recommendation thanks to John

 
Beijing Wok Chinese Restaurant

Address:
8106 Brodie Lane, No. 109
Austin, TX 78745
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(Part of Town: South)
Phone: 512-282-1442
Cost: between and
Type of Food: Chinese

I had been going to Beijing Wok weekly for at least a year when I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease... and did not want to give up my weekly meals there after being diagnosed -- so I took in a list of guidelines for a Gluten Free Diet and asked my regular waiter (who also does some of the cooking, some of the delivering, and I think some of everything there) if they could still feed me. He asked if they could keep the list (which I had gotten from GI Care.com) and I said yes. He looked it over and said they'd always try to figure out ways to feed me! (I've been told it hangs in the Kitchen and has been marked up as a cheat sheet for those cooking.)

They originally made all my meals with no soy sauce, but have since gotten a wheat-free "special" soy sauce. So now I order all meals with the special soy sauce and they come out Gluten Free.

If you tell the staff that you need wheat free/Gluten Free meals they should be able to help you. (A few of the waitresses have a little problem with the word Gluten, but they are always willing to go get someone else to take your order to make sure they get it right.)

I have consistently gotten good food (Gluten-Free) and enjoyed it:

Kung Pao Delight (this comes VERY spicy, and I like hot/spicy food and consider it too spicy so you may want to ask them to tame it for you) with the special soy sauce

Twice Cooked Pork with the special soy sauce

Moo Shoo Shrimp with the special soy sauce no pancakes, but if you ask they can bring you lettuce to wrap it in which is VERY good.

BarBQ Beef (I don't recall having to ask for the special soy sauce, but they know me so well that they always plan and accomodate/adjust as needed for me, so you might want to confirm if it is needed.)

They also made me some breaded/fried Chicken Wings one week that were really good and they assured me Gluten Free. They used Corn Starch and some other stuff they said.

Most recently we tried Shrimp and Snow Peas, no special soy sauce required as it came in a white sauce that is Gluten Free as is.

 
Kobe Japanese Steakhouse

Address:
13492 North US hwy. 183, Suite 380
Austin, TX 78750
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(Part of Town: North)
Phone: 512-288-7333
Cost:
Type of Food: Japanese & Sushi

This is one of those places that makes a fun show of cooking the food on the table in front of you.

I explained at length to our waiter that my brother and I could not have Kikoman Soy Sauce, as it contains wheat, and common utencils or dishes would be a problem and cause contamination. The waiter said he'd talk it over with the chef and it would be no problem.

The chef came out and said he understood, and asked if everyone at the table would bear with him as this was a FIRST for him. He cooked all our food first -- he made the same vegetables for everyone, using Soybean Oil, and spices, but everything Gluten Free. He prepared our meats (chicken and shrimp) and then for lack of a better expression, after our food was done he began again and cooked with soy sauce for the rest of the table.

The chef was VERY nice and asked us about almost everything before using it. He had also pointed out to our waiter that there was soy sauce in the soup and the salad dressing, so we would have to go without.

I wanted California Rolls, but can't have the imitation crab (it contains gluten) so the waiter arranged, for an extra $1 to cover the different ingredients, to have California Rolls made for me using Shrimp instead of imitation Crab.

All in all it was a WONDERFUL evening with a very understanding staff that went out of their way to make a wonderful Gluten free meal for us.

 
PF Changs in the Arboretum (Jollyville Road address) has Wheat-Free Soy Sauce.

Addresses of PF Changs in Austin, Texas:
Downtown
201 San Jacinto Boulevard
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 457-8300
(Part of Town: Downtown)

Arboretum
10114 Jollyville Road
Austin, TX 78759
(Part of Town: North)
Phone:(512) 231-0208
Cost: between and
Type of Food: Chinese

I e-mailed PF Changs HQ today and got these suggestions for eating GF at PF Changs:

Recommendations for Gluten-Intolerant Diets

Steamed fish of the day - ask for “No Sauce” - it will still come with ginger, scallions and hot oil. Ask for Substitute sauce.
Stir-fried Spinach and Garlic*
Steamed Buddha’s Feast*
Sugar Snap Peas*
Singapore Street Noodles* - make sure you order “No White Wine Sauce” use the substitute sauce.
Cantonese Shrimp or Scallops - order “No White Wine Sauce” - use the substitute sauce.
Ginger Chicken and Broccoli- Steamed, “No Sauce” use the substitute sauce.
Cantonese Chow Fun- Order “Substitute Noodles" - Rice Sticks (Angel Hair). Order “Substitute Sauce”
Lemon Chicken**
Lemon Scallops**
Oriental Chicken Salad
Cold Cucumber Salad - order “No Soy Sauce”

Substitute Sauce = Garlic, Ginger, Rice Wine, Chicken Stock, Sichuan Pepper, Salt and Sugar***

* You can add any of our marinated Chicken, Shrimp, Scallops, or Calamari (these marinades contain Corn Starch).

** These dishes contain both Potato and Corn Starches.

*** This sauce actually works well as a flavorful substitution to a lot of dishes that have our Dark Sauce or Kung Pao Sauce.

Most importantly please inform your server of your condition they will make sure the chefs understand your requests. Also ask the manager or chef if they carry “wheat free” soy sauce in the restaurant.

Pf Changs is "rolling out a Gluten Free menu with recommendations into all of our restaurants…we have come to realize how prevalent this is and we are very happy to accommodate our guest with special dietary needs" What a GREAT thing for a restaurant to say!

 
A reminder of the San Antonio Dining Page.

 
Central Market Cooking classes information on-line: HERE!

(Cooking classes in San Antonio are also listed.)

 
Outback Steakhouse offers Gluten Free Meal Options!

Cost: between and

For more info go here and look for this TINY bit of fine print at the bottom of the page and click on it (it will take you to a PDF version of the menu with Gluten Free ideas marked GF):

Outback Steakhouse, in coorperation with the Gluten Intolerance Group TM, are now providing a Gluten-Free Menu. Click here for more information.

 
Copy of a post to the St. John's University Celiac E-mail List:

I just got back from a 2 week road trip and figured I'd tell folks about my successes, and failures.

First off I should note, I'm GF/CF, diagnosed almost exactly a year ago, CD and DH. I do okay on Fritos, so I'm not too sensitive for those, though I tend to be fairly sensitive.


Golden Corral: nation-wide chain. They were very busy when I went so I only asked about a few specific items I had just taken a few bites of and gotten worried about. I have never had problems with the corn, they use a casein free margarine last time I read the label -- a few months back, white rice, and meat, lettuce etc. from Taco Bar. I asked several months ago and the nacho chips on the taco bar were safe, so usually I do a nice big taco salad.

This time I decided to try the mash potatos (now made with MILK) the Bourbon Street Chicken (wheat is in the Teriyaki sauce they put a touch of on it at the last minute. It is not cooked with the meat though, and not a preseasoned part, so I don't know if you could try and get some brought out of the kitchen before Teriyakied) and the Steak. Steak seemed to be GF/CF.

The manager was kind enough to give me the list of ingredients off the boxes for each item... so I'll let people double check me here:

Mash Potatoes: Milk, Margarine (Liquid Soybean Oil, Whey, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil, Vegetable Monoglycerides and Soy Lecithin (Emulsifiers) Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate (to preserve freshness), Artificial Flavor, Phosphoric Acid (acidulant) Vitamin A Plamitate), Cream, Salt, Whey Protein Concentrate, White Pepper, and Zantham Gum.

Bourbon Street Chicken: Salt, Paprika, Spices, Dehydrated Onion, Dehydrated Garlic. Contains less than 2% of the following: Silicon Dioxide (anticaking) and Soybean Oil (antidusting) The Manager told me they add a dash of Teriyaki sauce before serving it.

Steak: Salt, Dehydrated Onion and Garlic, Natural Flavor, Worcestershire Sauce Powder (Worcestershire Sauce {molasses, Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Caramel Color, Garlic, Sucrose, Spices, Tamarind, Natural Flavor, Sulfiting Agents}, Maltodextrin), Dextrose, Chili Pepper, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Dehydrated Parsley, and not more than 2% Silicon Dioxide and Propylene Glycol added as processing aids.

Ruby Tuesday: I think this was my favorite success. (Went to 2 Ruby Tuesday's I was so happy!) I got BarBQ Beef and Shrimp Skewers. There are two places you can find BarBQ skewers on the menu, one comes with fried shrimp and fried chicken, the other with fried shrimp and something else. In either case you can substitute all Beef or Shrimp, or mix, and the BarBQ sauce was Gluten Free. Skip the rice Pilaf as it has Gluten, but they'll give you extra broc.



Steak n' Shake: Someone already posted that corporate is no help. I got even less help in the one I went to. They had no idea if the fritos in the chili were flavored or not -- and told me all items come in a clear plastic pouch and any cardboard box that they might have come in was long gone, so there was no hope of finding ingredients if they were ever listed, and the manager was sure they weren't. I tried the chili and seemed fine... but I had already been to GC and gotten some Gluten so I can't be sure.



Chilis: I've read here that corporate is less than helpful, but I have been to multiple Chilis in the past year and ALL said they post a detailed list of ingredients in the kitchen, and had no problem checking for me. The Mushroom Jack Fajitas, no jack, works for me. Some have corn tortillas to substitute for the flour ones, but not all of them. The spanish rice they make contains butter -- and the fajitas have soy sauce and oil put on them to make them sizzle, though the one I went to in Alabama had recently switched to La Choy because they had heard fewer people have problems with that brand. I don't know if that is chain wide though.



Taco Bell: I went there several times as I always do fine with a taco salad no cheese (they have a button for it) no sour cream (they have a button for it) no shell (they have to go tell the person making it to put it on a nachos supreme plate... but if you ask nice they will.) At least one of the hot sauces contains distilled Vinegar and I've had issues with it, so I now skip the sauces.

I have since contacted taco bell and discovered that they do not consider either their taco meat or their chicken gluten free because of flavorings they use.