Oh, Red Lobster, how you vex me page 2

[oxide]

We were at Red Lobster awhile back and had to leave early. My wife asked for some drawn butter to take home for her lobster, and the waitress said to "use margarine, that's what we do!"

Thank you! I wondered about that.

[Apex Predator]

Today is my father in law's birthday, and he decided to go out to Red Lobster for dinner. I looked at the menu in advance and discovered that they offered an allergen summary for all of their foods. And whoa, they have wheat/gluten and soy in almost everything! Including their steamed broccoli! (WTF?)

Here's what I found that made the wheat/gluten-free and soy-free grade:

Steamed 1.4-pound Maine lobster
Wood-grilled fresh fish of the day
Snow crab legs
King crab legs
Baked potato with sour cream
Orange slices
Cheesecake (!!!) with strawberries

And that's it.

So I had a garden salad without dressing or croutons, the steamed lobster (didn't even need butter, it was that sweet), and the baked potato (without skin, but with sour cream), along with 1/2 glass of wine. Wound up being very tasty.

Back at home, my inlaws had coffee cake, my husband and sons had doughnuts, and I had a cup of mint tea. (But hey, I could have, somehow, had the cheesecake at Red Lobster -- seriously, how could cheesecake be wheat- and gluten-free? And the steamed broccoli and asparagus is **not** wheat- or gluten-free? Come on. Someone's messing with me.)

Yeah, I assume if it's in restaurant, it has soy. It's a safe assumption in most chains.

[June68]

It is sad how most restaurants operate these days. My husband used to work for a local non-chain place back in the 80s and they made their own ghee every week and used that for everything. Then they switched to some yellow crap in a can. Bah.

[Apex Predator]

It is sad how most restaurants operate these days. My husband used to work for a local non-chain place back in the 80s and they made their own ghee every week and used that for everything. Then they switched to some yellow crap in a can. Bah.

The best solution is generally reduce frequency, and move up a price point. Avoid all chains, as well.

[labmonkey]

I'm always amazed by how unchicken like chicken is at chain restaurants. Really the sit down chains are as scary if not more than fast food places.

No doubt. And breakfast can be brutal. We just came back from holidays. The first morning we decided to try the restaurant hooked to the hotel. (We had a kitchenette but, didn't have time to stock up) I ordered the eggs and meat, meat, meat. I swear to god it was like they handed me a 1/2cup of warm canola oil. "Drink up sucker" The eggs, sausages, ham all tasted like veg oil and it coated my throat all the way down. It was disgusting. Surprisingly the bacon was unharmed. Thank god.

That day we discovered a farmer's market and bought heritage eggs. Oh...my...God, it was amazing. Fried those babies in some butter with a large side of back bacon and we were laughing all the way to the yummy bank.

[tfarny]

Well, if you can go out to a national US restaurant strip mall chain and order a whole wild animal (lobster), you're doing pretty good. Normally in instances like that I just suspend my primalness for the evening.

[Mainer]

Next time order the lobstah and steemers with plenty of buttah and you will be sufficiently satisfied and we Mainah's will be very happy you help support our economy! PS: Of course it would be much better if you visited our most awesome state and sample our fare in the most pristine conditions!

[JackieKessler]

Yeah, I assume if it's in restaurant, it has soy. It's a safe assumption in most chains.

The morale of the story is get the menu ahead of time, pore through it...and if you don't know, ask.

[Owly]

The steamed veg problem at Red Lobster is in the seasonings they put on it. If you ask specifically and make it clear that you have gluten and soy issues, they will steam some plain broccoli for you, or at least they will here. A lot of chains put seasoning blends on their vegetables, so they are not really plain and have all sorts of weird mystery stuff in them.

But really, if I want seafood, it's stupid expensive a lot of the time here anyhow, so I will go to a good local place and get some quality stuff that I know will be served with real butter. As Apex said, you might not be able to go out as often, but in my city, there are some really great local restaurants that specialize in local, organic foods and are really aware of dietary sensitivities. And actually, a lot of the time, they're not really much different in price than some of the chains, and the food is a million times better.

[magnolia1973]

I think that is what annoys me most about chains- you take something simple- a no-brainer- salad with chicken or fish and broccolli and the next thing you know you are sick because you are god knows what. LOL, just grilll a chicken breast and put it on a bed of lettuce that you rinsed with water. Serve with actual olive oil and vinegar. Instead you get some injected chicken product, on a bed of lettuce rinsed with beach, coated in soy oil with a healthy slug of corn syrup.