BD's Mongolian Grill

Although I'm not a big supporter of franchise restaurants, BD's Mongolian Grill is an interesting take on stir-fry.  You get a bowl.  You take the bowl to the buffet of raw meats and vegetables and stuff as much in the bowl as you can.  Then you pick a sauce or two and take it to the grill.  They ask you if you have any food allergies.  If you do, they block off your portion of the grill with something that looks like an over sized door stopper.  After it's cooked, they put it in a different bowl and you proceed to your seat to eat it.

Only a few sauces are gluten free and it's up to your discretion to pick gluten free items from the buffet.  With good choices and communication, this place is a win for being gluten free friendly.

I doubled up on my sauce choice.  I found that when using the gluten free buffalo sauce, it's best to use it as a dipping sauce because if you have the cooks add it to your order, everything tastes like buffalo sauce and you can't taste the difference between anything in your bowl.  I chose to use the gluten free lemon sauce on the grill.

I stuffed my bowl with beef, chicken, scallops, broccoli, green onions, squash, and mushrooms.  Some of the items on the buffet don't always look too fresh.  Sometimes the meats are still frozen or the vegetables are a little wilted.  You have to really look at what you're choosing.  Also, its good to take notice of what items are next to non gluten free items.  Sometimes things can get mixed with gluten items on the buffet.

The cook blocked the grill off, cooked my bowl, and handed it back to me.  I picked a pretty good bowl of food.  I probably wouldn't use the lemon sauce again.  I think I prefer to just have my meat and vegetable cooked plain and dip them in buffalo sauce while I'm eating.

BD's Mongolian Grill is located at 428 South 27th Street in the Southside. 

http://www.gomongo.com/