Gluten Free Seattle

Brody

My wife and I have planned some food to bring so that we will have gluten free food for sure, but I was hoping you fine folk might be able to point out some celiac safe restaurants in the general area.

chaosisorder

From those in the know: https://glutenfreenoms.com/seattle-restaurants/

LexiconGrrl

chaosisorder wrote: »

From those in the know: https://glutenfreenoms.com/seattle-restaurants/

I have mixed feelings about that list, as the writer seems to rely heavily on Yelp for their research, and that's not a terrifically accurate resource.

Also, if a restaurant is charging you extra for avoiding cross contamination, that's a GOOD thing. It means that they are in back unwrapping brand new utensils, cutting boards, etc... and cleaning all surfaces before preparing your meal. That labor and equipment doesn't come free, but shows how serious they are to making sure your meal is truly GF, instead of being careless. 75% of the time, event the most trustworthy sounding restaurants aren't very careful.

Ashrack

I'm a celiac as well, and I don't worry about it too much around here. Seattle is quite good about posting gluten free options on menus, and servers are quite good knowing how to accommodate. That said, there are quite a few places around the convention center that are gluten-heavy like Subway, a couple of bakeries, and the little crepe place out front, La Creperie Voila.
But beyond that there is plenty of choice available - at the WSCC don't miss out on Juicy Cafe or Taco Del Mar in a pinch. Out beyond there are plenty of steakhouses, MOD Pizza has a fantastic gluten free crust if they're in stock, Rock Bottom brewery has options I've had before, etc. It might be a bit harder to find GF pasta or a burger place with actual GF buns, but there's lots of options.

If you care for a bit of a hike - I HIGHLY recommend the Cinnamon Works on Pike and Pine - down at the Pike Place market for their GF Monster cookie. I get a couple every PAX, and it's way worth the hike.

Brody

Thanks for the responses.

We've had a couple of issues with cross contamination, so I was looking more for 100% GF establishments, and I found a couple in Capitol Hill, which looks like its not too far away.

I wouldn't normally be quite this worried, except being glutened could really easily ruin the weekend.

Ashrack

I understand - my sensitivity is a bit lighter and I've been doing it for 33 years, but I know the concern well. MOD pizza was really and truly excellent when I've gone, though I haven't been to the one near the convention center. They were very sensitive about cross contamination, even asking if I'd like them to swap out their gloves. Highly recommend. Capitol Cider has some great fare and the cookie place I mentioned is also especially good about cross contamination. Beyond that there are others, but they're driving / bussing destinations which I don't usually want to bother with during PAX.

nonzerosum

The MOD Pizza in Issaquah was far less concerned about gluten cross-contamination than even the Chipotle restaurants I have eaten at. I was not impressed.

MetaverseNomad

If you're still looking for options, I went to Stateside yesterday and completely recommend it. It's French and Vietnamese fusion. It's on the corner of Pike and Minor, just up the hill from WSCC next to Six Arms. Much of the menu is dairy/gluten free, and the server was the best EVER, walked through every item on the menu (it's a small menu, but there are a LOT of amazing options), and even offered to actually check a food label for my weird obscure allergy, for a menu item he wasn't sure about (without being asked), which has never happened to me before. It was AWESOME.

LexiconGrrl

Here's a quick story to help GF folks understand why you'll get better quality and assistance when you're a rational, sane communicator in restaurants.

I own a cafe, and this week a woman came in who claimed to be GF and couldn't have the dessert. She sighed loudly and made it clear that she was suffering silently over our lack of options...

While plowing through a plate of barley and rye crackers.

There's a lot of fakers out there and restaurants get really cynical when they repeatedly deal with this shit all day. If you're cool, honest and nice to your server, you're more likely to have an experience like @MetaverseNomad . Nobody wants to get someone sick, but remember that when asking for special diet stuff, the odds are never in your favor because some jackass before you probably ruined your server.

Brody

Yeah, for the most part my wife, (and by extension me) doesn't eat out anymore, because it's hard to explain, and we feel bad trying to make people jump through a bunch of hoops. Usually we just ask the server "Is this prepared separate from gluten stuff," and if there is a lot of confusion, we'll say thanks and she'll just get a soda or something.