Navigating restaurant menus. - See post for descr.

[CJSculpts]

Okay peeps, I have a MAJOR question for you:

Which would you find more comfortable?

1) Picking out the items on the menu that you think have the best chance of being safe and then grilling (punny, huh?) the server about all of the ingredients and potential pitfalls not listed on the menu like brines, marinades, sauces, garnishes, etc. The hope would then be that he/she would accurately convey all of the info to the Chef.

2) Bringing a card that described all of the potential hidden traps, giving to the server or manager to read and then make suggestions and then have the server pass it on to the chef. (It would be a bit like I saw that someone sent a list to a cruise line but not as detailed, just the scary sneaky things.)

3) Some combination of the above.

[colormist]

I usually make a guess based on the menu and just tell the server to omit anything that might be dangerous (like mayo). My husband (who has celiac's) has asked the server if a BBQ sauce has wheat in it and they went into the back and brought out the container so he could read it himself.

Depending on the restaurant, I think most middle-upper scale restaurants are pretty accommodating. They know if you don't enjoy the food and have a good time, that you aren't likely to return.

[Tammy]

We also just talk to the waitress and if they don't know, quite often they just bring the manager out to talk to us. And we have also been brought the container to look at ourselves.

I would never trust a list taken back. First, the chef probably doesn't have time to try and decipher all the ingredients, and second, I wouldn't trust someone reading something that is confusing even to us.