Recommendable Gluten-Free Restaurants in BC

Our road trip is over and it was full of fun, family, friends, sunshine, and lots and lots of mileage.  We saw a variety of wild animals, clean waterfalls, icy cold rivers, the majestic, snow-capped Rocky Mountains (quite new and pointy in terms of mountains), miles of rolling hills that flattened into plains, and ate a lot of good food.  It was good to connect with my brother and his family in Red Deer, Alberta, as well as family in Calgary, and then head to our friends in Idaho.  Along the road we ate out of our cooler, and when at people's homes we ate in.  Each meal in every home was thoughtfully prepared by our hosts and hostesses, and I am really thankful for the gluten-free meals that each one provided.  I was a little concerned about how I was going to eat without being a pain, but everyone was very accommodating.  Since we've returned to BC I've had a few opportunities to eat out, and I'm so thankful for the allergy-awareness of every restaurant we've gone to.  Very refreshing from eating out in Indonesia!

While in Surrey, Tris and I wanted to go out on a lunch date, and when I googled "gluten-free restaurants + Langley" (nearby city) a whole bunch of Greek restaurants came up.  Not a problem, since that's one of our favourite meals to eat.  We chose a restaurant that we later realized we'd eaten at years ago for one of our earlier anniversaries, and it was Poseidon Restaurant.  Wouldn't you know it, our server had just recently discovered that she needed to be gluten and dairy free, so she was able to answer all my questions and to set me up with one of the best Greek meals I've ever had.  I ended up having the chicken souvlaki with rice, greek potatoes, greek salad, veggies and tzadziki.  The combination of tzadziki and feta weren't the best idea, but that was my idea, not theirs.  Yesterday, while in Nanaimo, my mom and I had another greek lunch at Milanos, and it was ordered on the recommendation of the cook there, who apparently has a few regular gluten-free customers.  Not quite as good as the one at Poseidon, but delicious nonetheless, and I'd recommend going there for both the food and the customer service.

My favourite dining experience was in Courtenay, when my mom and I headed to Atlas Cafe, known locally (and probably beyond) for their healthy, fresh meals and for their allergy-awareness menus.  I can't even begin to explain the emotions I felt when our server handed me my very own "Celiac Menu" on an entire sheet of paper, full of choices JUST FOR ME!  This alone could bring me back to Canada, I swear!  Most of the choices involved a tortilla of some kind, and as I looked around I saw that most of the other customers were eating flour wraps of some kind as well.  That was a good eating day.

The most personal eating-out experience I have had was at the White Spot in Campbell River.  Their menus don't indicate any allergy-awareness yet, but apparently that will change by next November.  When I asked about gluten-free awareness, the hostess arranged for the manager to come and chat with us to give me an idea what I could order.  Within minutes the manager had come to our table, scootched me over in the booth, and sat beside me while we looked through an allergy chart.  It was customer service to the maximum!  Although I really wanted a Triple O Burger with caesar salad and zucchini sticks (sigh), I ordered the Spot Salad with grilled chicken, along with the spicy sweet potato fries and chipotle dip.  There is a coating on the fries, but I was assured that it was gluten-free.  Later, I came home to google more information and came up with great reassurance online (see this post).

I was a little hesitant when I took my dad out for a belated Father's Day breakfast last Sunday, as we headed to Ricky's Restaurant.  I wasn't expecting to be able to eat much more than a fruit cup, but once I talked to our server and she discussed it with the cook, I ended up with a basic egg breakfast with tomatoes instead of toast.  I think I enjoyed the company more than the meal, but that's probably because I'm not a breakfast lover in the first place.  

I never thought I'd have so much fun eating out as I have in the past 3 weeks, and it's a pity I cannot take this fun with me to Indonesia.  I'm sure that there are restaurants there that will accommodate my needs but other than my favourite Grasshopper Thai in Benton Junction (and a new one being built in Alam Sutera!) I have yet to find an understanding, accommodating dining experience.  In just one week I will have the opporunity to begin more gluten-free food research in Indo as I head home with my kids and meet up with my husband, who returns tomorrow.

NOTE:  later in the afternoon, after I wrote this post, I went out for lunch once again in Courtenay.  This time I went to Union Street Grill on 5th Street, and I was able to once more ask for a gluten-free menu.  I can only use the words delight and thrilled to describe my excitement when I realized that my absolute favourite salad in the WORLD (well, one of them at least) was on this specialized menu.  It's a pork and feta salad with a yogourt dressing.   I had to take something for the dairy, but that didn't stop me.  It was delicious and if I lived around here I'd go back regularly.