This weekend my husband and I had a date night. This was a treat because it doesn’t happen nearly often enough these days with two kiddos and the rushing around of every day life. Sometimes date night is a RedBox movie and microwave popcorn, but this weekend we opted for a babysitter for the kids and dinner and a movie for us!
As a general rule, I’m not a huge chinese food fan…mostly because it is something we can never eat as a family because of my son’s peanut and nut food allergies. However, on date night, I’m a sucker for Pei Wei or P.F.Chang’s because the food is delicious AND they offer gluten-free meals.
This weekend my husband and I opted for P.F. Chang’s. Before being seated I asked that they provide me with a gluten-free menu and was delighted to see the have actually incorporated the gluten-free menu on the regular menu. I no longer have to request a special menu that the host or hostess has to hunt around for or ask managers about. That in and of itself is a treat but it doesn’t stop there.
P.F. Chang’s had a promotion for dinner for 2 for $40 which includes 2 cups of soup, 1 appetizer, 2 entrees, and 2 mini-desserts. It was quite a deal, but it is my past experience with some restaurants that if you mention needing to substitute out some of the listed items as gluten-free, the price goes up. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the waiter was extremely well-versed in which items were naturally gluten-free and which items he could substitute as gluten-free FOR NO EXTRA CHARGE!!!
I dined on gluten-free: egg drop soup, chicken lettuce wraps, mongolian beef, and chocolate mousse. Believe me, I was living the high life. Maybe a little too much so according to the waistband of my slacks!
It seems as though more and more restaurants are adopting gluten-free items and menus. So before visiting your family’s favorite restaurant or a restaurant you think is off-limits, take some time to do a little pro-active research and you might be pleasantly surprised!
Bon Appetit!!!
Filed under: Gluten Free, Recipes Tagged: gluten free chinese food, gluten-free eating out, gluten-free restaurant, P.F. Changs glutenfree, PeiWei gluten free, the food allergy mom, thefoodallergymom 
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