Andy's Jazz Club - Gluten free and Jazz

This one is an anomaly to my gluten free eating out theory. I try only to go places that advertise they do Gluten free, or have a menu. This one did neither, but it was my brothers’ girlfriends’ birthday, and she made my brother call ahead and talk to the manager. He talked to him mentioned it's a "bad allergy" and that it'd mean a lot to his girlfriend that I can eat with them. The manager assured him they had options and they could make the meal safely. So ultimately I caved. It turned out to be OK, but I’m not planning on making this a regular occurrence. Andy’s is a cute little live jazz club tucked away in River North, not far from Navy Pier. Michelle really wanted to check it out for dinner prior to going on a nice sunset boat tour on Lake Michigan. 

Andy’s has been at this location since the early 1950’s, and has been playing Jazz since the late 1970’s. It reminds me of a cute little speak-easy with waiters dressed the part and friendly jazz artists playing live music. We had a reservation for 4:00 on Sunday, when they are less busy. (Friday’s and Saturday’s it’s quite the hopping place!) Our server came over asked who was the birthday girl, and who was the gluten free diner. I was happy; they noted it on the reservation. He asked a few questions, he confirmed it was an "allergy", and if I had any other allergies they needed to know about. He said he’d double check everything with the chef before he guessed what was safe. He came back with a list and pointed out the dishes they could do gluten free. It was a huge selection, but it had a variety of beef, chicken, salmon and risotto. The disappointing part is they seemed to be missing was a dessert option, so we skipped dessert, but made it up by stopping at Garrett’s for popcorn before boarding our boat! 

I got the risotto – One word – Fabulous! It was plated so pretty I didn’t want to disturb it at first, but really it was tasty, if I could have licked the plate I might have done it!  When the food arrived it was even announced at gluten free, so there was no mistake on the meal. I was really glad I came out, even though I was a bit nervous about it, everything turned out really well. 
I give them 4 dragonflies, despite not having a dedicated menu the server took great care of handling the gluten free dinning and checking with the chef for options and modifications. I would love to go back again since the entertainment was amazing and the food was extremely tasty and unique. I'm not sure I could have made anything this good myself.