Restaurant: The Dubliner, St. Louis, Missouri
Few things in this world make me as happy as settling into a booth or table at a pub and just letting my cares and worries go. Of course, this is sometimes easier said than done when plagued with food allergies, especially to gluten. And one of the least likely places to find a menu that is easy to navigate when you are gluten-free (and also a vegetarian, in my case) is a pub.
But, thanks to knowledgeable staff, despite no gluten-free men, special care was certainly taken with me. And for that, this pub won over my heart.
This pub, by the way, is The Dubliner, located in St. Louis, Missouri.
When my roommate and I were seated with menus, our waiter went ahead and took our drink order. But, before he hurried off, we threw a few questions at him. Do the fries share a frier with anything blended. He said that they had only one frier. Fries were now out. I asked what the soup of the day was. He said potato. I asked if it was gluten-free and he vowed to go and check. When he returned, he said it wasn’t safe for me to eat either. So…I was back to a salad. That’s fine…but wow me with a salad!! There is the challenge.
When we were talking to our server while trying to figure out something I could eat, he said he understood how difficult it must be for me to eat out. One of his friends has Celiac disease and she hardly can eat out. Her condition is so bad that if she has anything with even a spec of gluten in it…things get really bad.
So, with an understanding as to my condition and what I needed done with my food…we placed our orders.
Naturally, my roommate went for the fish and chips ($12.00). As for me…I went right to the salads, figuring they would be the safest and only vegetarian option on the menu at this point. My decision was to get the Chopped Salad ($10.00), which consists of lettuce, tomato, red onion, celery, scallions, red peppers, carrots, shredded Kasseri (that’s a cheese, btw!), and kidney beans. Of course I asked that mine not come with the croutons that are listed on the menu. And I ordered that the balsamic vinaigrette.
Food actually came out quite fast, but we weren’t exactly there at a busy time. It was around 2 p.m. So, the lunch crowd had already pushed through on that Sunday morning and we were just simply following it up. My roommate dug into her fish and chips, and absolutely raved about the fries and the taste of the fish.
Now, I was ready to dig into my salad. This was just a normal salad you would probably throw together at home. Nothing too special about it. Basic vegetable ingredients and a light dressing to coat it. But it was very heavy on the celery and definitely not as heavy on the kidney beans as I would have liked. When you order a salad, you want it to be big enough and full of something with some protein that will fill you up. While this salad was initially quite filling, after awhile, my body burned through it and I was ready to eat again. This is usually the story of my life when it comes to eating out at pubs with no gluten-free/vegetarian options.
But, I will hand it to this pub…when the server brought out our meals, he even held his arms apart, not wanting any food to come in contact with anything because of my sensitivity to gluten. I liked that. It really made me feel more secure about our choice to eat there. Considering this wasn’t our first choice of a pub that day (our originally one actually has a gluten-free menu, but it was only serving brunch and I wasn’t feeling another egg that day and my roommate really wanted her fish and chips!), it really made me feel good that, despite not having a dedicated gluten-free menu, they took enough care with my food to keep it uncontaminated. I’ll take that any day.
So, while the salad was nothing to really rave about, the care and consideration I got from the kitchen and staff was leaps and bounds above what I ever expected.
Gluten-free or not, I think should you find yourself in St. Louis, you should venture out to The Dubliner and enjoy some delicious pub fare at a place that really does care.
The Celiathlete 