Gluten and Dairy Free at Outback: It's a Go!

Hey everyone, sorry it has been so slow here. I just flew back from New Haven (CT) last night and we treated ourselves to Outback Steakhouse's Gluten Free Menu as a Cindy-coming-home reward and Cindy's-too-durn-exhausted-to-cook-breathe-or-think reward.

I am still struggling with being glutened and dairied over the past few days. I was glutened @ Gourmet Heaven (I'll explain in New Haven restaurant reviews, Part Dos) and the Philly airport (chock full o' gluten and dairy and, to add insult to injury, wildly expensive), and dairied at Outback (my oops).

I am thankful that the worst I have to deal with right now are these bad reactions whereas Karina is undergoing a much more arduous healing process with her recent fall. Goddess, we have you in our prayers for fast and optimal healing. Blessed Be! I am very motivated to get back to my weight lighting and exercises now and get refocused.

Review: Outback Steakhouse and their Gluten Free Menu @ Chapel Hill NC

The Outback dairy deal was my fault since I was already tired, sick, and not thinking straight. I ordered the gluten free "Chocolate Thunder From Down Under" flourless brownie with the ice cream on the side at Jon's insistence, not realizing that flourless and gluten free means full of dairy. Delicious, wonderful, scrumptious dairy-full deatheningly sweet brownie. Hey, if you can do dairy, I highly recommend that brownie :) It does have a lot of sugar and glycemic impact though; try to share it (I ate most of it, hehe).

As for the Outback gluten free experience, we had to wait forever(t'was Saturday night), but the wait staff seemed conscientious and positive about my gluten free requests. It was pretty obvious that they'd heard the buzzwords and had probably had training with how to deal with allergic customers. I felt comfortable with our main waiter, although he was extremely busy and swamped by a nearby crowd of 15 undergrads drinking beer and tossing pumpernickel bread rolls across the tables. The assisting servers, however, were less comforting. For example, when my gluten and dairy free salad came out covered in cheese and I politely pointed it out, the second server was immediately apologetic and made a fuss, saying "Yes! Of course, this was a gluten free salad - I'm so sorry it has cheese!" over and over.

I smiled since at least I'd get a new salad. Jon about fell over saying "dairy, not gluten... dairy." I was actually humorous and I was thankful that they cared and were so proactive. I ordered the Outback Special Steak with steamed vegetables, and a side house salad with oil and vinegar dressing. (David, if you're wondering they do not have olive oil. I have not been to a restaurant as of late which does, unfortunately.) The steak was perfect and the vegetables great; no gluten or dairy problems there. I feel completely comfortable eating at Outback (at least ours) now, which is a relief. Overall, if you're interested in the gluten free options at Outback, I say go for it and be sure to be upfront with your requests (no croûtons, etc). With the exception of the dairy in the brownie, our experience was positive. Just be ready to shell out the $$: we spent a good $45 for my steak meal, Jon's steak griller, and our shared dessert. Hey, it was the first fancy date we've had and it was worth it. I am spoiled by not cooking all last week, let's hope I get over that soon :)