Judging from responses to this website, the search for celiac friendly restaurants is a major task for those living gluten free. The quest becomes even more difficult when we are seeking a specific cuisine, a general price range, and (perhaps most of all) a convenient location.

  There are three types of celiac friendly restaurants:

  Unique Gluten Free Restaurants: These establishments belong to no restaurant chain, generally serve fine food that is characteristic of the area in which they are located, and are smaller restaurants and therefore receive relatively little publicity. These gems are hard to find but almost always worth the effort. These restaurants are featured in my “Successful Celiac’s Guide to Gluten Free Restaurants”. This is a state-by-state listing of  restaurants that cater to the gluten free.

  Chain Restaurants Providing Gluten Fee Options. These restaurants are much more common and relatively easy to find. Because they are part of a national chain, their locations are well publicized, each chain’s legal department will make sure that no individual restaurant falsely claims to be gluten free. People know exactly what to expect at a chain restaurant. These restaurants are the subject of my guide “Chain Restaurants Serving Gluten Free Meals”.

 Fast Food Restaurants Providing Gluten Free Options. I have not yet begun to cover this aspect of gluten free living. Few if any fast food restaurants are truly gluten free. There are too many relatively untrained people working in two small an area. On the other hand, it is possible for the celiac to “survive” in a situation where other options are not available.

 My Experiments. I have been attempting to assemble this information since this blog was started in February 2006. Much of this information is still useful, even though it may be out-of-date and/or difficult to wade through. For now, I have included links to some of these articles in my “Successful Celiac’s Guide to Gluten Free Restaurants”..

published 03/11/08