Luke Wholeys Wild Alaskan Grill

Luke Wholeys is a charming little restaurant in the strip district.  The space is a great little industrial building that is very trendy for restaurants in Pittsburgh.The murals on the wall are cartoonish sea characters, which are kind of tacky, but at least fit the theme.  There are also aquariums of fish in the small dining area.

I asked about the the gluten content in the lobster bisque.  The server came back from the kitchen with the response they think there is gluten in the the bisque and that answer scared me because if they are not sure what is in the the soup, they means they don't make it fresh in house.  That's OK, I'll steer clear of that.  I could assume it was thickened with flour and not corn starch, but I thought I'd ask.  I was dining in Virginia Beach once and took a shot on asking about the crab chowder and was pleasantly surprised when it was thickened with corn starch instead of flour.

One of the off menu specials was softshell crabs, battered and fried in a lemon caper sauce with mashed potatoes.  I asked if this could be sauteed instead of battered & the server returned with a yes, they would cook it in a lemon butter sauce.  She said, "Well I guess you can't have the mashed potatoes."

I told her the potatoes where no problem & that they could even add the capers to the dish, too.  We waited and waited for the food to arrive.  The place wasn't even that busy.  I feel like we waited way too long for crabs shrimp, and scallops that take less than 5 minutes to cook.

My dish didn't have capers on it.  One of the crabs was cold and the other one was mildly warm.  They were on a bed of wilted spinach and possibly kale or collard greens that were too wilted to be distinguished.  They also weren't very tasty.  It was more of a sloppy mess of green goo on the plate.

Both crabs were slightly under cooked, more soggy than crispy, and probably were cooked too early and sat on the plate fro too long before being delivered.

The mashed potatoes were definitely smashed potatoes.  They were lumpy with large chunks of potatoes throughout.  They were mildly garlic flavored and the whole meal made me think the cooks in the kitchen had little passion for what they were doing.

My companion ordered the shrimp and scallops on a bed of rice with wood fired asparagus.  He said the shrimp, which you only got three of, were fantastic.  The asparagus was charred and over cooked.  It was floppy when picked up and had no crisp left in it.  The scallops, which you got two of, were average.  The rice had clumps of undercooked, hard crunchy rice throughout.  For $26, you should at least get rice that is cooked right and a few more of pieces of seafood.


2106 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
http://www.lukewholey.com/

The Original Fish Market

The Original Fish Market located in the bottom of the Westin has a menu full of seafood and meat.  Each item has its own preparation.  Each dish was on the more expensive side of dining. So for nice night out on the town, this is a reasonable price point, although for just a casual dining experience, I'd say this is a little expensive.

I was torn between the mixed seafood grill, with shrimp, scallops, rice, and halibut and the swordfish with a caper red wine reduction on whipped potatoes and asparagus. The server told me both options were gluten free.  The halibut won.

When it arrived, it was a little hard to believe the sauce was gluten free. It was dark and think with a semi sweet aroma.  The asparagus was crispy. The potatoes were creamy with garlic and a green tint to them. I'm not exactly sure why.  Maybe they had spinach mixed in or something.  Regardless, it didn't effect the taste at all. 

The sauce on the halibut was reminiscent of a beef gravy.  Probably because of the red wine that is used more in beef dishes.  It was sweet with a hint of spice. It was delicious.  I didn't have any problems with this dish - it must have been gluten free as described.  

My companion had the jerk salmon, medium, with beans and rice.  He said the entire meal was delicious and spicy.  I would hope jerk salmon would be spicy.  Both presentations were beautiful. 

1001 Liberty Ave in the bottom of the Westin
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Delallo's Fort Couch Cafe

Delallo's is an intimate Italian restaurant with white table cloths.  To call it a cafe is an understatement.  There are only about 20 tables in the main dining room and in a separate room, a bar with a few more tables.  The menu is quite extensive with fish, chicken, steaks, and pastas in many preparations.  As for gluten free, then menu offers very little unless you want to risk highly modifying the menu.

The steaks are a good option for gluten free diners, as long as you don't chose the option with the breadcrumbs on it.  Looking over the specials, I found soft shells crabs that could be pan sauteed in a lemon cream sauce.  I asked the server to check with the kitchen to make sure it could be gluten & pepper free.  

The soft shell crabs came with a choice of soup or salad, although none of the soups were gluten free.  I didn't feel like risking the dressing, so I got it dry with no croutons.  The first salad came with green pepper and a jalapeno pepper on the salad.  I did mention to the girl earlier that I had a pepper allergy, so I was a little concerned when this arrived.  I sent the salad back.  

I was told that I received an entirely new salad, and I have no reason to believe that it wasn't.  I mean, it's just a salad.

You also get one side.  I got a baked potato.  It might have been the only option for me besides a vegetable and more and more places are mixing red pepper into their vegetable mixes.  The potato came with sour cream and butter packets.  I really prefer the individually wrapped butter packets because I know on one smeared the butter on a piece of bread.  

The baked potato was actually pretty good.  It didn't taste like it was baked yesterday & kept warm for hours.  The skin was actually enjoyable.

Although there isn't many gluten free options, they made an effort to make my gluten free experience pleasant and they didn't get me sick.

http://www.delallosfortcouchcafe.com/

Double Wide Grill

The Double Wide Grill is a great place to sit outside and watch the cars and people stroll along East Carson St.  Their patio is even dog friendly. 

At first glance, I wasn't sure about anything on the menu being gluten free.  Sometimes BBQ sauces are not gluten free ans there was a lot of BBQ on the menu.  I'm not a big rib fan either and I wasn't in the mood for a salad.  Salads are usually a safe choice if you make sure there's no croutons, french fries, or dressing on them.  And I just wasn't feeling a bowl of lettuce.

I mentioned to the enthusiastic server that I needed to be gluten free & he promptly told me about the gluten free bread & menu.   He fetched it from the server station and handed it to me.

It was a bit confusing.  I had to keep looking back and forth between the regular menu and the gluten free menu to see what came on certain sandwiches and entrees, but I decided on a grilled chicken sandwich and an appetizer of mussels with no toast.  

The mussels were in a tomato lemon butter and were plentiful, but there were 3 or 4 left over mussels that didn't open.  I was once told not to eat the ones that don't open, so I didn't. 

My sandwich arrived open faced.  And it was a good thing, too.  I looked at the full green leafy lettuce and saw a dead bug.  I found a server & sent it back for new lettuce.  Yes it was the same sandwich with different lettuce, but that's what I expected.  Nothing was wrong with the chichen or bread.

The chicken was tender, smokey, and spicy.  I feel like it was a fake smoke additive, but I'm not entirely sure.  The spice was just a hint and not over-barring.  The bread was pretty good for gluten free bread.

Except for the extra protein that I didn't order, the Double Wide Grill is a decent place & makes an effort to be gluten free friendly. 

http://doublewidegrill.com/

McGraw's Steakhouse

McGraw's Steak Chop & Fish House

McGraw's Steakhouse is a romantic little place right along the Wabash River.  They have both patio seating and a beautiful view of the river from inside the dining room where the glass windows stretch the entire length. There are about 20 tables in the main dining room and a few less in a separated dining room probably reserved for private parties.  White tablecloths line the wooden tables and set an intimate mood.  This would be a great place for a special occasion or romantic date, if you can get a reservation.

I ordered a salad with no dressing because I was very unsure about the content of the dressings at this place.  I was told that they didn't put croutons on the salads, so that was safe.

I ordered a rib eye steak and garlic mashed potatoes.  I told the waitress that everything had to be gluten free, and I tried to order things on the menu that wouldn't normally have gluten in them and wouldn't have to me modified.  If you flour a steak, you're ruining a perfectly good steak.  This didn't seem to be a place that would ruin a steak. 

My salad arrived and was a bowl of iceberg lettuce, nothing fancy, a cucumber, red onions, shredded cheese, and a couple cherry tomatoes.

My rib eye arrived and I cut into it.  It was not medium rare as I ordered it, it was more of a medium well.  It looked nice in the presentation, but the temperature was over done for my liking.  Large chunks of pepper were sprinkled aver the steak, which I found over barring. There was a lot of gristle and fat, but that is to be expected with this cut of beef.  It added a nice flavor to the tender parts I could actually eat.

The garlic mashed potatoes were evenly smashed and creamy with a hint of blue cheese in them.  They were enjoyable, while still remaining simple.

My compainions had a filet, which was cooked to a perfect medium rare and a prime rib with au jus sauce and horseraddish, also cooked to a perfect medium rare.  I was told the filet was very tender & tasty and so was the prime rib.

Overall, it was a classy atmosphere, a delicious meal and friendly service.  i dont think there is very many non chain classy restaurants in the area, so if fine dining is what you desire, there isnt very many options.  but thats alright because they did it right at this place.  Of course you will pay quite a bit more here than a diner, chain restaurat or mom & pop restaurant.  I didn't get any adverse reactions to the meal served here at McGraw's Steakhouse, so I think it's safe to say a gluten free diner can have a delicious meal here.


http://www.mcgrawssteakhouse.com/

2707 South River Road

West Lafayette, In 47906

Kiku

Kiku

Tucked away in the freight house shoppes in Station Square is a wonderful little sushi restaurant called Kiku.  You have to keep your eyes peeled for it because it is very easy to pass up.  The outside of the restaurant is adorn with Japanese decor that spills inside the little Asian themed restaurant.  There are about twenty tables and a sushi bar inside.  The funny thing is I never see many people in this place.

As you are seated, you are welcomed with a hot towel and friendly service.  I skimmed over the menu and asked the server about the California rolls - were they made with real crab or imitation?  She sadly told me they were imitation crab which means not gluten free to me. I appericiate the honesty.

I asked her to check to see if the sushi platter for two and miso soup was gluten free.  She said the sushi was gluten free & they had gluten free soy sauce for me, but the soup was not.  I chose the salad with no dressing instead of the soup.

The salad was a mix of fresh greens with shredded carrots on top.  It wasn't bad of rabbit food.  The waitress kept offering me alternatives to the non gluten free dressing, but I am fine with dry salads.  The options were lemon, salt & peeper, or olive oil.

The sushi platter arrived.  It had two of each, except for the two rolls, which were full six piece rolls.  The waitress went over what each sushi was, but I didn't really catch all of them.  There were three different kinds of tuna, trout, whitefish, and salmon.

I was offered two different kinds of gluten free soy sauce.  One was Tamari & the other was Braggs Liquid Aminos.  I chose the Tamari.  For you non-gluten free diners, they make their own soy sauce in house, or so I'm told.

Each piece of sushi was fresh.  The rice was fluffy & not too sticky.  Really the rice was the best sushi rice I've ever had.  The fish was fresh.  The wasabi was fresh.  The selection was diverse.  They really did sushi well here.  It was hard to think I could eat half of the 28 pieces that was on this platter, but I did and I was happy I did.  I walked out of this experience satisfied and full.

I didn't feel that anything I ate here was cross contaminated and I felt that they addressed all my concerns regarding dietary restrictions.  I would highly reccommend this place to the gluten free sushi lover.



http://www.kikupittsburgh.net/
Station Square
225 W Station Square Dr  Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Outback Steakhouse

I've been to this Outback Steakhouse so many times.  My family likes to come here to celebrate birthdays.  I've had some good experiences; I've had some bad experiences.  When I come here, I stick to things on the menu that I know are gluten free like steak, baked potatoes, and salads.  I've found that although the chocolate brownie is made gluten free, I'm pretty sure the chocolate sauce or chocolate flakes they add to the brownie are not so gluten free.  The desserts at the Outback have gotten me sick before so beware.

Sometimes the service is decent, sometimes the service sucks.  We've waited way too long for meals here before.  They don't take reservations, but they do a thing called call ahead seating, which doesn't really help any.  

The staff that seats people was like the Keystone Cops.  There was no communication.  Our party was asked the same questions three times by three different people.  Each of them confused our party of five with the party of five that walked in ahead of us.  Then they seated us at a table too small for five people, so we asked to be moved.  We weren't given any silverware rolls and had to swipe them from a table by us.  And there wasn't very many tables in the restaurant at 3:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday so catering to the tables that were there shouldn't have been so hard.

I ordered the 8 oz Victoria's filet, wood fired, medium rare, with a baked potato and a salad with no croutons and no dressing.  I am unsure if the dressings for the salads are really gluten free, and I didn't feel like risking it tonight.  The salad was a bed of iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers and shredded cheese.  It's nothing to write home about, but the lettuce and vegetables were fresh.

The filet and potato arrived.  The baked potato was cooked well.  The toppings were skimpy; they could have used a little more butter & cheese.  The filet arrived medium rare, but it looked like they replated my meal five times.  Juice spots splattered the plate.  The presentation was lacking.  The plate almost looked dirty. 

 I was here about a month ago & the medium rare was medium well, dry and rubbery.  At that time, I was too hungry to complain so I ate it anyway, even though it was not enjoyable.  This time, the filet was juicy, tender, and tasty, as long as you didn't think about how may times the steak was moved on the plate before it arrived at the table.

With these choices and today's preparation, I didn't get sick.  It's easy to tell what is making you sick when you order mostly the same things every time you go somewhere, with one or two variations.

Let me tell you about a few options I have gotten sick off of in the past.  The tuna appetizer has soy sauce on it - that made me sick.  The brownie & chocolate ice cream desserts both got me sick on 2 separate occasions.  That's why I think the chocolate sauce or chocolate flakes they top the brownie & ice cream with may have gluten in them.  Many types of chocolate have barley powder in them and that's usually the culprit for the gluten source.  


25 McMurray Rd  Pittsburgh, PA 15241
http://www.outback.com/