Talking Allergies

Do you have restaurants where you know you can eat, and do you stick with them? Or are you able to try new places, if you just come prepared with a million questions?

So far we eat at Pickle Barrel and Jack Astor. Both are in our neighbourhood and we never eat at any other location. Our local Chinese restaurant is also a winner. I think we are their favourite customers. I am very leery to try new places. Any suggestions from anyone out there?

We frequent Harvey's when we have a fast food craving -- (my son has a severe peanut allergy). Harvey's was able to provide an "allergen listing" for their foods and told us that the only form of peanut in their restaurant was in the form of small individual packets of peanut butter that they give to customers for breakfast.

I second the Pickel Barrel nod. They have one of the best allergy policies I've seen. It clearly states on their menus that they take food allergies very seriously.

That's the impression I got too with the Pickle Barrel (at least the one on Yonge St. near the Eaton Centre). I once went there with friends who were having dessert. Because the desserts would have been fatal for me, I mentioned to the waitress that I have allergies and so was wondering if she could bring my drink separately. She said they can't guarantee that *anything* is peanut free.....and seemed to be a bit worried about the drink (which probably would have been fine) and advised me to get something bottled instead. I was impressed by how seriously she took the allergy situation.

I don't know if all franchises are like this but The Great Canadian Bagel in my neighbourhood does not make any bagels with nuts. They do have peanut butter but it comes in individual packets and they never open them. They give them to the customer to take away.

I did notice that the website lists a banana nut bagel but this franchise doesn't make it.

Normally we only go out once a month. We stop at two fast food drive throughs for this.

First stop is Wendy's for a baked potato with chives (hold the sour cream) and a fruit bowl (remove the dip).

Second stop is Triple O's. There we order burger combos for five (hold mayo on one), two salmon burgers (hold the bun and sauce), I give my fries to my daughter and we are set.

Anytime I am stranded in the town to our East at dinner time I will stop for fries at Lee's fried chicken. They use canola oil and do not cross contaminate with chicken strips or onion rings.

We had a great experience at the Pickle Barrel in Sherway Gardens. We told them our daughter had a peanut allergy. The manager told us that they do grind nuts daily for salads and desserts but then one of the kitchen staff came out and said she would personally supervise my daughter's food preparation in an area that they would sanitize first. Then she personnally brought the food out, not the waittress. I was blown away!

Still it is somewhat worrisome that they grind nuts on the premises. Some of the dust may land on different foods.

We do not eat out. There is a pizza place that DH likes and we *might* take DS there and bring all his food. There is a Mexican place where DS can eat the chips and salsa but DH doesn't like it so we never go there. We used to get McD fries but that's out. maybe as DS gets older we will eat out more. Right now he doesn't like things like broiled chicken.

You mentioned in your previous post "We used to get McD fries but that's out". Why is that? I'm just curious. The only peanuts that are in McD's (that I'm currently aware of) are the small packets that come with sundaes and the McD cookies that may contain traces of nuts due to the plant they're processed in. The fries do not contain any nut products nor are they cooked in any nut oils.

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SAHM of 3 children. Oldest DS (1999) is anaphylactic to peanuts.

Probably because the US mcdonalds fries contain milk and wheat...they do not in canada.

I thought you were worried about nuts in the fries. I have heard that McD's in the States have slightly different fries.

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SAHM of 3 children. Oldest DS (1999) is anaphylactic to peanuts.

Our son has multiple food allergies, including sesame... this is why we no longer eat at McDonald's... I know of 2 children who have had allergic reactions at McDonalds because of sesame allergy. We had never had a problem with our son at McDonald's (we've only eaten there a few times with our son anyway), but we decided it was not worth the risk.

Today my Dad told me that McD's now has Quaker nut-free chocolate chip granola bars as part of their Happy Meals. My Dad is a McD franchisee. His hope is that McD's can go nut free in the near future. He wants me to write McD head office and request that they no longer have nuts in any products. I think it's a fabulous idea and would make a lot of us feel safer with our kids eating there. It's not like they have tonnes of peanut/nut products anyway.
Just though I'd share the news. The granola bars are in Ontario, not sure if it's being done in other provinces or in the States.

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SAHM of 3 children. Oldest DS (1999) is anaphylactic to peanuts.

I just talked to my dad and he said that the nut-free granola bars from Quaker that are in the Happy Meals are only for a limited time.

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SAHM of 3 children. Oldest DS (1999) is anaphylactic to peanuts.