I am soooo happy. Though we now live in the Houston area, we were very recently in Dallas and Fort Worth and popped on by one of our favorite restaurants there, Blue Mesa.
We miss this place dearly. They bring out sweet potato chips with their chips and salsa. Great salsa. Great margaritas. Great food. DS has loved going there since he was a wee tyke.
So I mention food allergies--DS' PA and my shellfish--and our waiter says, "I'll be right back. We have some information about food allergies." He brought back a laminated card with "Blue Mesa Common Food Allergens" at the top [i]as well as a separate menu for vegetarian food[/i]. This really scored points with us (DS is vegetarian, too).
So cool. This is what the allergy card is like. It has the following headings:
--Items that have nuts
--Items that have mushrooms
--Items that have legumes
--Items that have eggs
--Gluten free items
And under the Nuts section, it listed a lot of things that come with a pesto and specified pine nuts and other more blatant nut things like Navajo Chicken Salad--comes with Chile Nut Dressing (mixed nuts).
The gluten free items section said to avoid anything with flour tortillas but also to avoid the corn tortillas because they may have a little flour in them. It said, "Many of our steak and chicken items have been marinated in soy (folks that are very sensitive need to avoid soy)" And it included a list of safe options for people who need a gluten free dinner.
I was so incredibly impressed. And beyond impressed with the vegetarian suggestions. It listed dressings/sauces that are vegetarian, vegetarian menu items, items that can be modified to be vegetarian, and items that are NOT vegetarian (that don't blatantly contain meat--that contain "hidden" meat." And it listed that the Southwestern Caesar Salad dressing is made with anchovies, the Blakc Bean Dip made with bacon, and lots of other things that are made with chicken stock.
We still asked about the ingredients in DS's chipotle sauce on his avocado enchiladas, but it was fine.
I have always loved this place, but I quite adore it now. Very impressed, indeed--and saddened that this restaurant is only in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
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We love this restaurant also, but have always thought it would be too hard to take out PA daughter - I assumed it would be just like everywhere else when it comes to allergies - too hard !! My husband and I often get take out from there and eat after our daughter has gone to bed. Im so excited that you had such a good experience there and that your son was able to eat there - we will have to go there with our daughter this weekend and check it out. Thank you so much for your post !!