The hot dog from heaven

Sorry if the title of this post is misleading, the hot dog didn't TASTE like it was from heaven, it just LOOKED like it came from heaven. It was tasty though, a Chicago-style dog (little peppers are part of the style, but it was missing the poppy seed bun, which I wouldn't have eaten anyway) from a little place in Hollywood called Molly's Hamburgers in Hollywood. All the goodies on top made it a mess to eat (I used a fork and knife), but tasty.

This has become our go-to place after seeing a movie around the corner at the Arclight Theatre. The Arclight is a great place for a movie, but the concession stand charges you almost as much as the ticket!

The only food allergy tip I can add here is that those with dairy or soy allergies should be careful with any type of prepared meat (hot dogs, salami, cold cuts, etc.), a lot of these use one or both as filler. Kosher dogs don't have dairy, but some have soy. When I buy hot dogs for cooking at home, I buy the Boar's Head brand, which is more expensive, but doesn't have any fillers, just beef.

Okay, I'll confess. I just liked the hot dog picture and liked the place (I'm a sucker for diner-type places) and thought I'd share it. That's all.

The Essential Gluten-Free Guide

A few months ago,the lovely people at Triumph Dining sent me a copy of "The Essential Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide" to review. It's a handy dandy guide to finding gluten-free restaurants when you're planning to eat out, or out of town.

More than ironically, I've been traveling so much in the past month, I haven't had time to read it...and then when WAS I out on the road, I was pretty much restricted to walking distance from the hotel or convention center, so it wasn't as much help to my immediate needs. Oy vey!

So how did I rate it? Still very helpful. There is a great section up in the beginning about how to communicate with the restaurants...by being informative and helpful vs. hysterical. Then I looked up California, and rated the spots in my hometown, Los Angeles. It has a few very solid GF places, like Fritto Misto in Santa Monica, who can make "pasta" from steamed vegetables. Less helpful was that they listed "The Old Spaghetti Factory" as GF even though they serve....spaghetti? And could cause some pretty serious cross-contamination issues for celiacs. Puzzling. Although this book can't begin to cover the thousands of restaurants in each state, I think the most helpful info is the covering of chain restaurants like Claim Jumper, Outback Steakhouse and Cheesecake Factory, which are more likely to be in all neighborhoods, along with phone numbers to check the menu ahead of time. And it'll also help spur some ideas for TYPES of foods that are GF....like Indian and Mexican food.

There is also a "Gluten Free Mall" section in the back, which offered some new vendors that I have yet to explore, but am excited about. (Anyone tried Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Oats? Who knew? Oatmeal cookies, here I come!)

I thought the coolest part of the package were the laminated restaurant cards, which detailed in several languages (Spanish, Vietnamese, French) your food allergies so that you can share them with the servers and chefs.

Like with all food-related information, please keep in mind that menus and ingredients constantly change, so don't rely on this as gospel, more as a very detailed travel guide.

Thanks again Triumph Dining Guide, for helping to make eating out a little easier for food allergic folks.