I’ve noticed that whenever I travel (since going gf) I realize how much I stress about where I can eat, and what I can eat. At home, it’s easy. I know where to go and how to “live” so to speak.
I had my usual travel breakfast yesterday – pancakes and bacon. I try to eat something a bit heartier so I don’t have to worry about when I will eat again. With my travel snacks in hand (trail mix, and some almonds), I got on the plane to head to Midway.
After I landed, my coworker and I tried to find Whole Foods (via our car’s GPS system). My thought was I could easily buy some breakfast items and food and not really have to worry. So we followed along with GPS, turning when we were told to turn, and finally, as we approached our destination, we realized, there is no Whole Foods where we were. GPS lied to us! We drove around a bit and finally ended up at Chipotle for lunch (yum!).
After some time in our local office here, we ventured out to Trader Joe’s before dinner (which was fantastic!). I did find some Spanish Rice mix at Trader Joe’s that I am excited to try, since I haven’t found a gf brand yet.
Now dinner. Holy smokes, batman. I had one of the yummiest dinners I’ve had in a long time. I found online a restaurant named La Sorella di Francesca which said they have quinoa pasta. The server was really nice, told me there were only a few sauces I could have, and a few dinner entrees I could have as well that were safe.
I opted for a dish of chicken in a tomato sauce with olives and capers (which I’m not totally in love with) over pasta. It was the best pasta dish I’ve had in a long time (sorry, Artist, it even beats your shrimp arribiata sauce!).
For dessert, I had a scoop of lemon sorbet and peach sorbet (the sorbets were the only gf options).
Now, while the food was good, I do have to comment on the service. Overall, our server, John, was great. He definitely went out of his way to go over the menu with me, answer my questions and help me. However, when the food was delivered, I asked the gentleman who brought it to me if it was gluten free pasta. He barely spoke English and kind of repeated the dish that I ordered. I replied, “Yes, this is what I ordered, but is this gf pasta?” “Yes, it’s pasta,” was his response. I waited for John to come back before I ate. He confirmed it was the gf pasta.
As for dessert, the sorbet was good, but it came with a big ole biscotti on top of it. Nice. Just want I want my gf sorbet to have. I ate around it but really should have sent it back. I know it’s a waste of food to send it back, but if restaurants really want to have gluten free options, they really need to be 100% aware of what needs to occur.
Anyhow, if you are in the Chicago area, I highly recommend you check this place out. They have a few locations in the area and I don’t think you will be disappointed.
Breakfast today consisted of some rice crackers from Trader Joe’s and some swiss cheese and turkey breast from Target. Now I’m off to figure out lunch today…I’m thinking dinner tonight is PF Chang’s, as there is one near where I’ll be later today.
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Traveling can be such a pain, but I got this book called The Next Exit, and it lists all of the major highways and the exits and what are AT those exits!! That really helped us on our last road trip. We found an Outback for dinner, and a Walgreens for sunburn spray, and an Auto Zone for new wiper blades.
I take a big bag of trail mix–gf pretzels; unsulphured, dried, organic fruit; gf, dairy-free chocolate chips; and mixed nuts when I go on trips. Then I know that if all else fails, I can fill up on that.
I gave up all sugar for a while, when I was a traveling fool. Man was that hard. There’s sugar in every glazed fish dish, all white bread, etc. I started bringing my own oatmeal packets that I could mix in the coffee pots in the hotel rooms.
Good job on your food planning while on the road. I feel for you.
While that’s just lovely that you had a great dinner, I simply can’t and won’t believe that it was better than my creamy shrimp arribiata sauce. I mean, it’s shrimp, it’s cream, it’s arribiata… it’s delicious!
Greetings from Naperville!
I just happened onto your website while reading glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com and clicking on various links. I have lived in Naperville for seven months now, and I have discovered a few helpful places to shop and eat safely. For grocery shopping, most Jewel-Osco stores in the Naperville area will have a health food section with a selection of breakfast cereals and some canned soups. There is a store right outside the Fox Valley Mall called The Fruitful Yield (you can check out their website at http://www.fruitfulyield.com) and they have, bar none, the best selection of gluten-free foods I have found here all under one roof (frozen TV dinners, corn dogs, personal pizzas, baking mixes, cookies, cereal, granola, soft pretzels, pies, you name it). The nearest Whole Foods is in Wheaton off Butterfield Road, not very far from Naperville. They have an extensive selection of products too, including Redbridge beer.
Restaurant-wise, there is a Biaggi’s on South Route 59 with a gluten-free menu. I live near Fridays on Route 59 and have been there a few times in the past several months, and now they recognize me and bring out their list of foods containing gluten. They are more than happy to accommodate me, and on more than one occasion the chef himself has come out and offered suggestions of dishes he could make for me to enjoy safely.
If Downers Grove is not too far for you, there is a pizzeria called Aurelio’s that apparently makes gluten-free pizza if you call ahead and specifically request it. I know one of the cooks there, and he has told me to just give them a call if I ever would like to pick up a pizza for dinner. I haven’t tried it yet, but you might check them out.
Good health and happy travels!