Mannen Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Ridgefield. Yes you can have Asian food again:)

Kitchen Oil: Coconut Oil
Spoon rating: Four
Recommended for: Garlic allergies, egg allergies, gluten allergies, milk allergies, and nut allergies.
Not Recommended for: Soy allergy

So after a long hiatus from blogging we have returned with a long awaited review of Mannen Restaurant and Sushi bar in Ridgefield. Now you might be asking "What was that I just read an Asian food restaurant on a blog that reviews restaurants for their ability to serve patrons with food allergies?"Well before you do a double take you need to stop by this restaurant for dinner. At first The King's Taster was very skeptical as well. We were concerned that the seriousness of food allergies might not be comprehended or that language issues might result in an unintentional mistake. That said we were convinced to give it a try after many trusted families with food allergies commented with rave reviews and urged us to see for ourselves.

So with epi-pens in hand we ventured to try something that had been missing from our palettes for years, Hibachi style Japanese food. We chose to try this style of dining rather than a traditional sit-down dinner because we would be able to see any screw-ups right in front of us. Our first test of course was to call the restaurant. We informed them of our allergies and asked them if they felt confident that they could meet our needs. We overheard the hostess discussing the situation with the kitchen staff and they all seemed to agree that they could safely meet our allergy needs. So feeling slightly confident we made reservations for a later dinner starting at 7:30pm, which in hind-site was a brilliant choice and we recommend it for any family looking to dine here. This is because the hibachi dining section of the restaurant seems to clear out well before the traditional dining section does and helped us to ensure that we had our own grill. It is critical that you have your own grill when dining at this style of restaurant and in the future we would go so far as to request a separate grill when making a reservation. The grill was cleaned exquisitely before our food even touched it. By using a solution of water and soap, which is poured onto a piping hot grill surface the stove is scoured clean.
    The ingredients in this style of cooking were simple. Whatever meat or vegetable you choose, rice or noodles, and onions. Lemon, soy sauce, and a variety of other house sauces are often used in the cooking. We requested beforehand that only soy sauce and lemon be used when flavoring our food because we were concerned that an ingredient list would not be readily at hand for the sauces. If you have a garlic, spice or peanut allergy I would recommend this precaution as well. Clean utensils were used for the cooking, which was a pleasure to see, although we were very disappointed that one of the allergens we had noted to the staff, garlic, had been wheeled out onto the cart of food. The chef quickly noticed this and removed the separate plate that contained the allergen and brought out all new utensils as a precaution. Again the benefit of this style of cooking is you can point out to the chef any issues that you notice. From there on out we enjoyed the show and could see that our food had been prepared allergen free.
Although we would definitely not recommend this style of cooking for soy allergies because the food would be minimally flavored gluten free allergies, peanut allergies, and garlic allergies may find a welcome Asian flavored meal here. For gluten allergy concerns we recommend requesting rice only for your meal and reviewing this article about soy sauces before dining here to ensure that you are comfortable with your dining experience:

http://www.celiac.com/articles/23061/1/Is-Soy-Sauce-Gluten-free/Page1.html

In addition Mannen noted after discussing gluten allergies with them that they do serve gluten free soy sauce but that you must let them know beforehand so that their servers can ensure that they use the correct soy sauce. Now cross contamination is a possibility in this kind of setting because a separate pan would not be used, but we can't really imagine a more thorough cleaning method for the grill. That said if you are concerned about cross contamination it may be a good idea to ask the staff if you can observe how the stove tops are cleaned to see if you are comfortable with the method meeting your allergy needs. Now although this restaurant does not get high marks with regards to outreach, there are no descriptions of their menu ingredients on their webpage, and they do not use an oil that is allergen free, they do have good staff coordination, checkpoints within their staff, the ability to recognize that an extremely clean preparation area must be used when cooking, and an adaptable menu. So all in all it is probably your best bet in the area for a safe Hibachi style dining.

A Gluten Free Family Night at Ruby Tuesday's

Cooking oil used: Mostly canola oil with some menu items being cooked in butter, liquid margarine (contains soy) and highly refined soybean oil. Please discuss the cooking oils used in your menu choice with your server if you have a soy allergy.
Spoon Rating: Three
Recommended for: egg, fish, gluten/wheat, milk, MSG, peanut/tree nut, shellfish, and soy

There is nothing we love to do more than sound the trumpet when we have found a new restaurant that can cater to clientele with food allergies and the Ruby Tuesdays at the Danbury Fair Mall was able to do just that on a recent family night out. Not only did this restaurant have no wait time and a far less noisy atmosphere than the other restaurants at this mall, but when we informed the hostess that we had a gluten allergy present in our party she immediately pulled out a small binder that contained a separate gluten free menu. The menu was extremely helpful in helping our party determine a safe gluten free food option to eat would be. Further investigation revealed that the menu we were presented with was printed from their website which has an Allergen/Sensitivity Menu Guide. This guide is fantastic because it creates menu guides for the following major allergies: egg, fish, gluten/wheat, milk, MSG, peanut/tree nut, shellfish, and soy. We commend them for creating such a user friendly menu for so many of these common food allergies and for their use of canola oil in much of their kitchen cooking.

That said some improvements can be made. For example the menu we were presented with was two months out of date and although there were no noticeable changes to the menu items we recommend reviewing their website before visiting them to ensure that you have the most current version of the Allergen/Sensitivity Menu Guide. Also they often cite the salad bar as a menu option for each of their food allergy menu guides but in our opinion we would steer clear of this menu item because although each of the foods are in separate containers the chances of cross contamination are high since they can not control their guests usage of the tongs and serving spoons in this area. The biggest downside of this approach is that if your allergens fall of the beaten path you won't have much luck here because ingredient lists are not provided for any of their menu items, which is a huge oversight in our minds.

Lastly in such a high volume restaurant we would most certainly ask you to exercise caution if your allergies are sensitive to kitchen utensil cross contamination and always request that a separate pan be used for your food item if you are in this category. All in all definitely add this to your list of favorites in our area. With a three spoon rating they are a keeper for many of the major food allergy groups.

To get or not to get your Starbucks in Ridgefield, CT

Kitchen Oil: Not Applicable
Spoon Rating: Two
Recommended for: Garlic allergies, Gluten allergy if cross contamination is not an issue for you
Not recommended for : Soy Allergy, Nut Allergy, Milk Allergy

As a company The King's Taster would best describe Starbucks as late to the game because until recently their website only posted nutritional information for their food menu items. We are happy to see that they have recently corrected what we considered a huge over-site of their customers needs by posting a complete list of ingredients and highlighting major food allergens for each of their food items on their web-site. That said most of us don't go to Starbucks to eat we go to Starbucks for their drinks and here they are still lacking. Their web-site does not cotain any allergen information for their beverages. Here is their disclaimer in this regard:

 "Allergen information is currently unavailable online for our beverage selections.  We are actively working to bring that information to you.  If you have an allergen concern, please feel free to ask our baristas to check the ingredient labels or call 1-800-235-2883 for more information.  Please note: we cannot guarantee that any of our beverages are allergen free because we use shared equipment and handle allergens throughout the store."

The King's taster following their web-sites suggestion attempted to find individual ingredients for a beverage item when visiting their Ridgefield location and the baristas were helpful in locating ingredients for each of the items used in the beverage we ordered but they did so by searching out the boxes the items came in and allowing us to read the ingredients lists. Not the most effective way to find out if you can have a drink not to mention the huge line our request caused. That said we found a drink that did not contain any of the allergens we were trying to avoid. however, and this is where Starbucks gets tricky they are not kidding about the shared equipment. As recently as today I observed a barista use a spoon for soy milk and then put it directly into the container labeled for milk. So even though the pitchers they use are labeled soy and milk the potential for cross contamination if you have a soy or milk allergy is HUGE. So please be aware of this when ordering your drinks. In our opinion the safest bet for ordering food at Starbucks is to by their prepackaged items and personally we have found this a very successful way to buy a safe snack when in a hurry. The most worrisome comment we have about Starbucks is not about this specific location but about the brand in general. When we sent them a detailed list of queries about their allergy policy we received no response. To blatantly ignore a customers request for allergy information is beyond stupid in our opinion. Our spoon rating reflects this ignorance because it seems to be prevalent at all levels. Other than the recent upgrade to their web-site and the accidentally convenient prepackaged foods Starbucks has not made a true effort to reach out to clients that have food allergies, which is why they have received a spoon rating of two.

Standing on the sidelines at Panera Bread in Brookfield

Kitchen Oil: Varies with each product
Spoon Rating: 2
Recommended for: Soy ( That said menu options are limited and potential cross contamination must not be an issue for you)

The King's taster was in the mood for fast food that didn't come with a guilt trip so we headed to Panera in Brookfield with high hopes. Before ordering we went over our food allergies with the cashier who immediately noted that they would need to have their manager come discuss our allergies with us. The nervousness on the part of the cashier at the very mention of "food allergies" was palpable and their instant reaction to bring over the manager made us feel like they were expecting us to drop a law suit on them at any moment. Now normally this might just be chalked up to an odd cashier who was a bit of a nervous nelly but they made it clear that their company policy had changed and that now anyone with food allergies must speak directly to a manager regarding any food allergy questions. While we are glad that at least someone on site was able to answer our questions it would have been nice to be treated with a little more tact and why Panera doesn't feel that it is necessary to increase all of their employees knowledge of food allergy awareness is beyond us. So off to the side we were skirted while a large binder was procured that had the ingredient list for each and every item on their menu. We were pleased to see that they did have detailed information on-site for their menu items. The first section of the binder had a chart showing any major allergens that may have either come in contact with or are in each food item and then that chart was followed by ingredient lists for each food item with major allergens called out at the bottom of the page. That said DO NOT choose an item by just reading the major allergens that are listed at the bottom of the page. More than once we found a baked good that claimed it did not contain soy only to find that after reading the entire ingredient list there was soy in the product. That goes to show you that you should always double check ingredients whenever possible. Finally after reviewing the binder we had some safe menu options to choose from and we were able to place our order but with two antsy kids waiting to order food this binder method left us feeling safe but stressed out.
   After our meal, which we did enjoy safetly, we had hoped to pick up some baked goods for a friend of ours with nut allergies. That's when we noticed the signs, the These food items may have come in contact with, blah, blah, blah kind of sign, which of course are teeny tiny. In other words if you have peanut/ tree nut allergies do not buy the baked goods that are made fresh in store. Interesting enough they do sell some prepackaged goods that are actually made off site and then shipped to the store. These may be a better option for people with peanut/ tree nut allergies and the ingredients are listed on the box.
Following our visit we reviewed their website hoping to find allergy information there in order to avoid the awkward off to the side binder review we struggled with during our earlier visit. This is where Panera Bread is really lacking; there is only a blanket statement or what we like to call an allergy cop out on their website and you need binoculars to find it because the print is so tiny! Here it is:

Allergen Statement

Many of our products contain or may come into contact with common allergens, including wheat, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish and shellfish.

At this time, this nutrition calculator does not identify allergens for added ingredients.

MA notice: Before placing your order, please inform your server if a person in your party has a food allergy.

Canada notice: Many of our products also contain or may come into contact with common allergens, including sesame, sulfites, and mustard.

This is obviously completely unhelpful and honestly is just a cover your #$% kind a move. 

So if you are thinking of visiting Panera for the first time bring some help along so that someone can watch the kids while you sift through all of the menu options. Don't even bother with their web-site and if cross contamination is an issue for you then this is not the option for you.

Who doesn't love Chuck E. Cheese's?- The King's Taster

Kitchen Oil: Vegetable Oil (may contain canola oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, palm oil, corn oil, and soybean oil)

Spoon Rating: 2

Recommended for: None

The King's taster visited Chuck E. Cheese's to see if their slogan "Where a kid can be a kid" applied for children and their families with food allergies and we have to say that this restaurant chain definitely scores big bonus points with us in one respect the food allergy information is readily available to their patrons. Their website was easy to navigate with food allergy information being given that was specific to each individual establishment. This means that they are actually accounting for regional differences in their food, which we have yet to find another restaurant chain acknowledge. Their food allergy information is detailed with the major allergens highlighted and a full ingredient list for each menu item. Of particular note we were impressed that they chose to call out the individual spices used in their recipes, and we hope that other eating establishments will follow suit in this respect because there are so many different food allergies out there and full disclosure means a healthier, safer meal for everybody. Besides finding this information out on their website you can also request it in person and they will print a full list of this information for you to review, which is helpful when you have hungry kids that don't care that they have food allergies because they just want to eat.
 That said once you receive this list of ingredients your jaw might drop to the ground as you take in how much of the food contains the eight common food allergens. If you have a soy allergy this is absolutely not the place for you unless you are in the mood for macaroni and cheese because almost every single other menu item contains soybeans. Even their salads contain soybeans! Also if you have a gluten allergy, or a milk allergy then you might want to just bring your kids here after they have eaten lunch and head straight to the games because your menu items would be very limited as well. As for peanut/nut allergies although they do not serve products that contain these ingredients they do serve some products that are manufactured in plants that process peanuts/ tree nuts so cross contamination is a possibility. That said if your child is still begging for a Chuck E. Cheese's birthday party do not despair they will allow you to bring your own food into their establishment for parties.
  Overall we felt that this restaurant showed a marked awareness that many of their young patrons have food allergies and they have made a strong effort to reach out to families living with food allergies by providing information via their website and at their individual locations, but lets be honest if at the end of the day there is still nothing to eat then what's the point. When it comes to providing an accessible menu for children with food allergies their menu items are so processed that they fall way short of the mark.

The King's Taster Visits Terrain Garden Cafe in Westport, CT

 
Kitchen Oil: Soybean Oil
Spoon rating: 3
Recommended for: Gluten allergy, celiac disease, milk and egg allergies

With its chic ambiance and Farm to Table fare we had high hopes for this sunlit little cafe but like a plant without water it did not grow to meet our standards. After an initial review of Terrain's website it was obvious that the menus were not up to date, a potential tripping hazard in the road to eating safely for families with food allergies. In a cafe such as this one that uses seasonal ingredients, which change frequently, a three month lag in a menu posting is simply unacceptable. That said our call to the cafe to confirm the days menu was met by a courteous hostess who assured us that our allergies could be accommodated as she took the time to review the menu choices available for our brunch reservations.  
    Upon arriving at the cafe we were disappointed to find that one of the eight top allergens, soybean oil was being used in the kitchen. Even more disheartening the waitstaff and manager were completely oblivious as to what kind of oil was used in the kitchen. In a truly allergy friendly eating establishment the waitstaff, in particular the manager should know immediately and without consultation with the kitchen what kind of cooking oil is being used.
  Of special note peanut allergies beware this is not a peanut free environment! Some of the menu items at the time of our visit did contain peanut butter. They were willing to accommodate food allergy patrons by preparing the food in a separate pan and in the end they did customize our food to fit with our allergy needs but this would have all been for nought had we had either a soy allergy or a peanut allergy at the time of our visit. If you have a gluten allergy, celiac disease (ask them to hold on the free bread in a pot), milk or egg allergy their menu does offer some unique appetizing options that might fit your needs but do call ahead to confirm the days food selection. In the end we felt that this cafe has some of the building blocks to become a safe, delicious environment for families with food allergies but it is lacking a keen awareness of food allergies, which is evident in its oil choice, its usage of peanut products without providing warnings to its patrons, its out-of-date web-site, and its staffs lack of familiarity with menu ingredients and cooking oils.

The King's Taster Goes Mexican in Greenwich with Chipolte

Kitchen Oil: Highly Refined Soybean Oil - * While The Food Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) provides an exemption for source labeling this form of soybean oil  there are still low levels of detectable soy protein in this oil. As such we recommend that patrons with soy allergies discuss consumption of this product with their doctor prior to consumption.
Spoon Rating: Four Spoon Rating
Recommended for : Peanut, Gluten, and dairy allergies

At the request of our followers we visited Chipotle Mexican Grill in Greenwich, CT. We had heard rumors that this restaurant had converted over to soy free cooking oil, namely sunflower oil, so we were eager to try some Mexican food, especially from an establishment that has a reputation for sourcing their food as organically, humanely, and sustainably as possible, all good ingredients towards creating an establishment that provides a safe environment for patrons with food allergies. Now prior to our visit The King's Taster had visited another Chipotle, which was located within the Tanger Outlets in
Deer Park, Long Island, and their staff confirmed that their establishment was using sunflower oil, naturally when we arrived at the Chipotle in Greenwich our hungry bellies assumed that we would be able to enjoy a safe soy free meal, unfortunately we were very wrong. The staff at the Greenwich location noted that all of their food was cooked using soybean oil. Thankfully we always do a double check before eating at any restaurant but clearly it was time to turn to Chipotle for some answers. Our first stop was of course their website where we noticed that highly refined soybean oil was listed as the cooking oil utilized in all of their establishments. Since we knew this to be wrong from our personal experience we decided to write to Chipotle for further clarity here is their response to our query (We have blacked out our senders name for privacy reasons):

"dhkakdk

Thank you so much for taking time out of your undoubtedly busy day to write to us. We appreciate our customer’s feedback very much and we are always happy to answer any questions our guests have about our food. I apologize for your disappointment in our use of soybean oil. 

We have been experimenting with non-GMO sunflower oil and non-GMO rice bran oil as options and have even tested them in a few restaurants. In fact, in select markets we have already implemented the use of sunflower oil in our fryers for our chips and taco shells. Those markets include; Utah, Colorado, New York City, New Jersey and Florida. So far, the tests have been positive and we are hopeful that this may be a good alternative for the soy oil we are currently using. 

Since your first visit was in the New York market we did have the sunflower oil, but the second location you visited does not have it yet. I would recommend asking our teams before eating which oil they have to be on the safe side. If you would like to call ahead before your next visit you can find our numbers at: http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/find/find.aspx?loc= 

Since we have not implemented sunflower oil in all of our restaurants we still have soybean oil listed on our site. You may have already complied this list but, the following items are made with soybean oil or contain it from the grill:

Chips
Crispy corn taco shells
Rice
Fajita vegetables
Black beans
Pinto beans
Carnitas
Chicken
Steak
Barbacoa
Chipotle honey vinaigrette
Large and Small Flour Tortillas

The following items are NOT made with soybean oil, although they could possibly come in contact with foods that are. We do recommend you carefully consider your dining choices on this as well.

Mild tomato salsa
Medium corn-poblano salsa
Green chile tomatillo salsa
Red chile tomatillo salsa
Guacamole
Cheese
Sour cream
Lettuce


I hope this information proves helpful fkahfkahf. Have a lovely day!

Sincerely,
Jillian

Jillian Hill | Customer Service Consultant
Chipotle Mexican Grill"

So there you have it the oil mystery is solved but it would behoove Chipotle to update their website to more accurately reflect their above response. In addition we highly recommend that Chipotle expand the ingredient section of their website, which reads more as descriptions than a true ingredient list.

If you have a gluten allergy or Celiac's disease then this restaurant might be an absolute haven for your family because there is a wealth of food options here. That said be your own advocate and gauge your sensitivity carefully because although new gloves will be used by their staff upon request there is the possibility of cross contamination in their kitchen. Keep a close eye on the staff and if you do not feel they are being responsive to your food allergy needs speak up! This is also a great place to eat if you are avoiding nuts because it is a completely nut free environment and only their cheese and sour cream contain dairy for those with dairy allergies. 
  Overall we are impressed with the initiative they have shown when reaching out to patrons with food allergies and the responsiveness of their customer service to our written query. We were less than impressed with some of the staff at the Greenwich location who seemed to busy to respond in more than a hurried manner to our questions about their oil usage despite the lack of patrons at the hour we visited. Also their website needs to improve their ingredient list and expand their explanation of the oil type used as we noted above. That said we are eager to try Chipotle again the next time we are in the mood for Mexican food and feel that they deserve a four spoon rating.