$44 cup of soup

Summary -- the Clay Pit in Dallas is not a good location for gluten free diners. That's all you really need to know. The rest of this essay is whining. Continue at your own risk.

I had heard good things about the Clay Pit from my husband who goes there for business lunches. I found online reviews from patrons of the Austin location of the Clay Pit who said that many of their entrees were gluten free and that the staff had a list of safe choices.

I forgot two things. 1) Austin isn't Dallas. 2) It was Valentine's Day.

The Clay Pit in Dallas (actually in Addison on Belt Line Rd) had a price fixed menu for the evening. $44 per person including appetizer, soup or salad, entree, and dessert.

A manager did come out to speak with me and (after many trips back and forth to the kitchen) pretty much told me there were only two things on the menu I could eat. The mulligatawny soup and the Okra Vindaloo.

I really don't like okra, so after a couple more trips, she told me the kitchen could modify the Vegetable Korma for me to make it safe. The tandoori chicken, she said, was off limits.

So I had the mulligatawny soup. It had a very nice nutty flavor, and although the curry was hotter than a prefer, it was still very good. I also had the vegetable korma, which was very creamy and mild. It would have been really good with some chicken in it.... sigh.

Since there were no desserts that I could eat, Mark and Colin decided to pass on dessert and take me to Yogurtland instead. The Clay Pit still charged us the full price fix.

Lessons learned -- call ahead. I really dislike calling. I have kind of a phone phobia and it seems like I am never able to communicate as well on the phone as in person, but at the very least I would have learned that there was a restricted menu for that evening, and we could have tried it another night.

I'm done with the Clay Pit, but Caroline was enchanted with Colin's description of the Naan (the only thing he ate) and wants her Daddy to take here there. I see a $44 piece of bread in her future.

Gluten Free Atlantis

We just returned from the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. We all had a great time. It's a perfect place to take kids; in some ways it's better than Disney in that it is smaller and more manageable. For example, we never had to take a bus to go anywhere. We even walked to the Dolphin Encounter. (a must do!)

One of the reasons we chose the Atlantis was that my mother and I are Celiacs and must eat gluten-free. We had heard that Atlantis was very accommodating.

I filled out a lot of paperwork before hand to let them know we would be arriving and need a special diet, but the restaurants didn't seem to know we were coming (unlike Disney, where the servers already know before you walk in the door). Nevertheless, everywhere we went they were very accommodating. We spoke with the head chef at each place we went, and they reviewed the menu (or buffet) with us. They were also willing to make special requests -- for example, they had a stir fry station at the Marketplace Buffet. Since the grill was "contaminated" by soy sauce (which contains wheat), the chef prepared our stir fry in a separate pan. Delicious!

Every place we went had tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, so it was easy to eat healthy, gluten free food. We did have some difficulty with finding Quick Service places to eat. I had a hamburger without the bun at a fast food stand, but Mom preferred to skip lunch rather than risk cross-contamination.

Several sit-down restaurants offered us gluten-free bread and/or pancakes. My advice -- say no. They were pasty and awful. Stick with "real" food.

Places we ate:
Marketplace (breakfast and dinner) -- incredible selection, good food, head chef was extremely accommodating.
Water's Edge buffet (breakfast) -- not as big a selection as Marketplace, but plenty of good food including lots of fresh fruit. I didn't bother to talk to a chef here as I just ate hard-boiled eggs, fruit, and yogurt.
Bahamian Club (dinner) -- expensive "fine dining" restaurant. The food was very good and the head chef came out and talked to us personally. Since we could not eat the onion side dish that normally come with the dinner entrees, she made us side dishes from veggies she prepared herself, including some roasted garlic, which was absolutely perfect.
Bimini Road -- Caribbean-themed restaurant that falls under their "relaxed dining" category. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was fun. I had Chicken Mojo and the chef prepared my veggies separately again. I think Mom had fish. The chef made a special dessert of grilled pineapple, since we couldn't eat anything on the desert menu.

All in all, I think Atlantis is an excellent destination for the gluten-free traveler, as well as whole lot of fun.

Old Fashioned Boy

Colin seems to be embracing the ideal of simplicity lately.

We discussed numerous locations for his birthday party, for example. I was adament that it would NOT be at home and suggested at least ten alternatives, none of which he liked. Finally, he threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Why can't I just have an ordinary birthday party?" he demanded.

I thought that was an interesting phrase, so I asked him what an "ordinary" party would entail.

"It would be at home or in a park. We'd play Pin the Tail on the Donkey and have a pinata shaped like the number seven," was his immediate reply.

He's right. That would be a very ordinary birthday... 30 years ago. Here in Frisco, however, parties have clowns, or ponies, or take place at themed locations like Build-A-Bear.

In the end, he lost the argument, but enjoyed his cooking party at Young Chef's Academy where they learned to make pizza... the old fashioned way.