Dining Out: Italian Food

I love Italian food. I especially love cooking it, partly because I can control all of the ingredients, but also because I love the Italian pallet of spices. Dining out at an Italian restaurant years ago was difficult, but it has gotten easier with most restaurants including gluten free options such as gluten free pasta and pizza. You just have to be careful and ask the right questions to ensure that your dish will be safe to eat.

When ordering any dish

• Ask if the dish contains flour or gluten (avoid any fried foods)
• Ask if the sauce for any dish contains flour, Marsala for example, is often thickened with wheat flour

If ordering an appetizer

• Ask if soups are gluten free or contain flour
• Avoid anything fried

If ordering a salad

• Make sure chicken, shrimp, steak etc. is grilled, not fried (they can always substitute grilled meat for fried in a dish)
• Ask for NO CRUTONS (people who are very sensitive cant have their food touch anything that contains gluten, so I don't recommend picking them off )
• Ask if the dressing is gluten free, otherwise ask for plain oil or oil and vinegar

If ordering pizza

• Ask if they have gluten free crust or gluten free pizza.
• Make sure any pizza toppings are gluten free
• only grilled chicken not fried 
• most deli meats such as pepperoni, sausage, ham etc. contain gluten so be careful
• opt for vegetables (onions, pepper, mushrooms, etc.)
• have just a plain cheese pizza  
• meatballs contain breadcrumbs, so they are not gluten free

If ordering a meat dish

• Ask for chicken/beef/seafood/eggplant dishes grilled, not fried with breadcrumbs
• Avoid meatballs as they contain breadcrumbs  
• Ask if the sauce contains flour

If ordering a pasta dish

• Ask for gluten free pasta
• Avoid baked dishes such as baked ravioli, because these contain regular pastas
• Ask if the sauce contains flour