Six Food Intolerance Living

I have been meaning to write about this for a while, but I kept forgetting! I have very exciting news! I have found a new (well, new-to-me) food-intolerance-friendly restaurant!!


Back at the beginning of the month, my work held it's holiday party. One of my co-workers had recently been to Clydes (the Tower Oaks Lodge location), a popular and local restaurant, and really enjoyed it. He suggested we go there for our holiday party. Well, you all know my first thought - "Can I eat there?" So, I rushed to find their website and was comforted and relieved to find this in their FAQ page:

"I have a food allergy. Can you accommodate my diet?
We are very successful at honoring dietary requests whether it is for any of the 8 major allergens, miscellaneous allergens, or general dietary requests. Communication is key -- please tell us when you arrive that you have an allergy, and we will do our best. We are not nutritionists, but do believe that we serve great food that can be prepared to meet many common requests. Since our food is cooked to order, our chefs can make something delicious and safe for you."

So, I got excited! Yea! They will accommodate me as best they can! And, they're familiar with the top 8!! When I called to make the reservation, I asked if I needed to call in advance to assure that they would have food that I could eat and the lady taking the reservation said, "Oh, no. We deal with food allergies all the time. I'll mark it here on your reservation, but just be sure to tell your server when you arrive and we'll take care of you." Ah, such a weight off of my shoulders.

So, we got there, I told one of the servers (we were such a large party that we had 2 servers) and when the other server came to take my order, she knew right off what foods I could and couldn't have and even knew to double check with the chef about the sauces and that butter was considered dairy (most restaurants ignore the fact that butter is dairy and I end up getting sick)! Everything was easy and I was confidant that I would have a safe meal. I ended up ordering the filet mignon (with no sauce) and 2 veggies - spinach and green beans. It you know what? It was delicious! And, more importantly, it was safe.

Upon further research, it seems that Clydes is really working hard to be food-intolerant-friendly! This is a really nice article about their efforts.

I'm so, so excited about this new find!! Clydes will certainly enjoy lots of new business from me! If you're in the DC metro area, be sure to give them a try!