P.F. Changs

[kjbrown92]

There's a new P.F. Changs opening up in a nearby mall. I've never been to one. I've heard them mentioned on this forum though -- was it good or bad? We have a bunch of intolerances (3 dairy, 3 soy, 3 gluten, 1 eggs, 1 white potato, 1 corn, 1 rice, and more) and so far we've had good experiences with Outback and Red Robins. I'd love it if we had more options.

[nalo]

All the feedback I remember is that they are great with allergies. They have GF soy sauce and are quite accomodating, if memory serves. (I've not eaten there since allergies popped up - this is just what I read on MDC).

Just checked out their website. They appear to be great with GF but their marinades all contain cornstarch.

[Chinese Pistache]

I'd say totally not an option, sorry It's Asian cuisine and filled with soy sauce, cornstach and probably a lot of other questionable things. They have a gf menu, but that's it. (I used to really like it, pre-allergies, but it's not very "clean" tasting food, if that makes sense.)

I think Tracy/Wugmama mentioned Noodles as an Asian restaurant option.

[Multimomma]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

There's a new P.F. Changs opening up in a nearby mall. I've never been to one. I've heard them mentioned on this forum though -- was it good or bad? We have a bunch of intolerances (3 dairy, 3 soy, 3 gluten, 1 eggs, 1 white potato, 1 corn, 1 rice, and more) and so far we've had good experiences with Outback and Red Robins. I'd love it if we had more options.

We also love eating at outback and red robins...they do great working with us. We haven't had a problem at pf changs, but we don't have gluten free and corn free in the same child (and our corn free kid does NOT do changs!). Their gluten free marinade has corn starch, so unless you're willing to go vegetarian as well, I don't know what you'd do.

[txtarheel]

We haven't tried PF Chang's, but Pei Wei (owned by PF Chang's) tries hard to be accomodating but in reality, doesn't have much to eat. They have great allergy lists and are quite helpful, but with a dairy, egg, peanut allergy, all we were left with were steamed veggies on rice. ALL of their meats are marinated in dairy.

We do really well at Panera. Not only do they have allergy charts for the top 8, but they have a notebook with complete ingredient lists that I've had no issues getting access too if I ask. Their stuff is all online too. I know it's not a nice sit down place, but it's somewhere to go when you really can't bear cooking.

I've heard good things about Carrabba's too, but we haven't tried them yet.

[kjbrown92]

Darn.
I hadn't thought about Panera because they seem like such a "bread" place.
I guess I'll stick with Red Robin and Outback and my favorite place up in Lake George NY that will cook anything off their menu for me (not a place for the kids though).

DS was with a friend yesterday, and they took him to Ruby Tuesdays. Even though he only had a hamburger and steamed broccoli, he came home with that stupid telltale rash on his upper lip. Our friends our really good about DS's allergens (always ask exactly what he can eat, etc.) so I'm wondering if there was some cross contamination. I looked at their website at their dairy free list and gluten free list, so what he had should have been safe. This morning when DH came home (night shift), he took one look at DS and said "What did he eat?" He slept fine though.

[txtarheel]

Panera has a lot of soups, many of which wouldn't have gluten in them, but cross-contamination might be an issue. It might be like trying to eat at Taco Bell with a dairy allergy! Good to know that Ruby Tuesday might be an issue. Now that we've added soy to my younger son's list, it's getting tougher.

[kjbrown92]

Soups have too many ingredients. And we can't do corn, rice, gluten, soy, dairy, white potato, 1 can't do beef and the other can't do chicken or turkey, and there's a bunch of vegetables they can't do. So Panera would be too hard.

[U2can]

I've always felt that PF Chang's is very accommodating. I order from the gluten-free menu OR ask if something on their regular menu can be made gluten free. They are far more conscientious than anywhere else I've ever eaten, cautioning me if I order something that isn't gluten free (in a very respectful manner I might add). For example, I tend to order the Banana Spring Rolls (to share - I get the ice cream & my friend gets the rolls) and they've always cautioned me, and usually double check that the ice cream doesn't have anything in it that can affect me.

[FireWithin]

What a timely thread. Up until now we have been able to have corn, but we are begining to adjust to be corn free along with our many other allergies. We have been able to go to our local high quality chinese restaurant and they can accomodate us. I bring along a bottle of Bragg's Liquid Aminos (although soy free, we can tolerate Bragg's), so they make a white sauce and we add bragg's at the table. With the corn allergy, I just don't think it can be an option.

My question is would a restaurant ever be willing to cook with your own ingredients??? What if I brought in tapioca starch and asked them to thicken the sauce with that instead of cornstarch. I think it is not possible, but am holding out hope.

thanks

[kjbrown92]

I guess it depends on the restaurant. Mom & pop places would do it more readily than a chain. There's a pizza place in town, and when my friend found out her 2 kids had celiac, they ordered a pizza, but said their kids couldn't have it anymore. The chef/owner asked them lots of questions and said he'd experiment until he could make something for them. I thought that was really nice.

And the place that I mentioned up in Lake George, uses their own organic garden plus local organic meats. And they said they'd make any of the dishes for me without dairy, gluten or soy. I ate there twice (birthday, anniversary) and it was excellent both times. We used to bring rolls for hamburgers to restaurants, but now that we can't do yeast, we're just roll-less.

I mean, it's hard enough for me to find safe stuff to cook them. I guess I shouldn't expect so much from a restaurant.

I just picked up DS from school, from the nurse's office, because he doesn't feel good. Was it Ruby Tuesday's yesterday, the different brand of Corn Chips that he started yesterday, or the stomach bug that's going around? Since he's got the lip rash, I'm leaning toward a food reaction, but who knows!