Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Gluten-Free on Cape Cod??

No Problem! by Susan

As I've mentioned before, I have Celiac disease, which means I can't have any gluten (wheat, oats, rye, or barley). According to the latest research 1 in every
100 people has Celiac, not to mention the people that are allergic to or intolerant of wheat. This problem affects a lot of us. Fortunately gluten-free dining options are not that difficult to find.

When I go on a business trip or vacation the first thing I do is Google "gluten-free in timbucktoo" (or wherever it is I'm going) to see what my eating choices are. So I thought I'd help the GF (short for gluten-free) people on the Cape or our visitors with some gluten-free choices.

A lot of chain restaurants now have GF menus. Cape Cod has some of the big national chain places: Outback Steakhouse , 99 Restaurant , Not Your Average Joe's, Panera Bread, Olive Garden, and Uno Chigao Grill all of which have printed GF menus (go to their web sites for Cape locations).

We also have some local places that either have a GF menu or understand GF and do it very well. Be sure to emphasize to them that you need a gluten-free meal:

Bangkok Thai Kitchen (Hyannis) - I love the Basil Chicken and Fresh Spring Rolls (not the dipping sauce but you can have the clear hot sauce with pepper flakes in it).

Island Merchant and The Islander (Hyannis, Osterville) - A lot of their dishes are GF and they will happily make substitutions when part of a dish is not GF. These people are very good and know their stuff.

Roadhouse and Columbo's (Hyannis) - You have to really emphasize that you need to be GF but I've never had a problem when I've done that.

5 Bays Bistro (Osterville) - I've had a few dishes there; never any problems.

Siena (Mashpee) - I've eaten there a number of times without any issues.

Trevi Cafe (Mashpee) - They have a number of tapas that they make in separate
saute pans to ensure that there is no cross-contamination.

Wicked Fire Kissed Pizza (Mashpee) - I've only had the salads here but they were excellent and there are a few other dishes I'm sure are just as good.

BZ's Pizza and Mexican (Dennisport) - They have GF pizza all of the time and it's great.

Because so many places offer seafood here, it's pretty easy for me to go into any of them and get GF things: oysters on the half shell, steamers, mussels, boiled lobster, etc. Those dishes haven't failed me yet. In most of those seafood places I've had no trouble getting a piece of broiled fish, salad, (I always carry a travel pack of GF salad dressing in my purse) and baked potato.

This is only a small sample of the gluten-free choices we have on Cape Cod. So if you need to be gluten free on the Cape and would like a full list of GF restaurants and food establishments that span the entire Cape, email me and ask for it, I'll gladly send it to you. If you are a restaurant or food establishment and have some GF offerings let me know and I'll add you to the list.

We also have a GF group here on Cape Cod and you can email them for information about the group and their meetings.

Eat drink and be merry - it's easy to do on the Cape even if you are gluten-free!

16 comments:

  1. this is an extremely relevant and helpful article considering 1% of the population has celiac and of those 3% are accurately diagnosed!

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  2. much needed GF information. can't wait to get your list

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  3. Very helpful site! Thanks for the info!

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  4. Chatham Fish and Lobster Company has a huge assortment of gluten free fried seafood (even onion rings that are gf).... can't wait to try them out.

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  5. Yes Chatham Fish is a great place to go! If you ask for your gluten free list that I keep you will see its on the list.

    Susan

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  6. Loved Chatham Fish! Haven't had Fish Fry in 5 years! And that kills me because I live in Jersey! Went back 2 days later and they had delicious cakes and gluten free bread for my daughter's fish sandwich. LOVED the sweet potato fries eventhough they were an extra charge with the meal. Be careful beacuse they close by 6pm most week days. Call first, you won't be disappointed.

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  7. I just wanted to let people on the Cape know that Lolly's Ice Cream Shoppe offers many gluten free ice creams and also gluten free cones! They're located on Rt. 6 in So. Wellfleet on the corner of Lecount's Hollow Beach Rd. ENJOY!!

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  8. Thank you for this article! This will definitely help on my trip to cape cod! It's relieving to know there are gluten free places to eat. Really helpful.

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  9. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This makes me feel comfortable to take a trip to Cape Cod, a place I've always wanted to visit. There are more GF choices on Cape Cod than we have in Little Rock! Sounds terrific!

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  10. In Sandwich, the British Beer Co. has a gluten free menu: http://www.britishbeer.com/

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  11. Excellent article. I wanted to let people know that now there is a gluten-free cosmetics available. You can go to www.avaandersonnontoxic.com/evelinamulhearn
    and take a look at the cosmetic line.

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  12. Try IDGY'S in South Yarmouth on Whites Path. Its new and awesome! Kate

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  13. I wrote about it.... Keep reading!

    susan

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  14. Wicked in Mashpee has Amazing pizza now! Its addictive!

    Off cape but close, down town Plymouth has Cornerstones. Its a breakfast/lunch cafe. With all the wonderful breakfast items with out the gluten! Frenchtoast, pancakes, muffins, bread and more! Its wonderful!

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  15. How about wellfleet. Looking forward to going.

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  16. If you look up in the right hand corner of the blog I have a list of GF restaurants on Cape Cod for sale for $3. (it takes me a lot of time and money to keep updated). It has a lot of restaurants in Wellfleet and the outer Cape!

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