Indianapolis Road Trip

Indianapolis ROAD TRIP! – Every year we travel from Chicago to Indianapolis for a Good Old Fashion NASCAR weekend with friends. The nice thing is I’m not the only person with food restrictions in our group, and my brother and Sister-In-Law go with so they are very well versed in eating out with me, so I always have allies on my side. We usually stop in Merriville to get candy from the Albanese Candy Factory and stop to eat, this time we ate before we got that far, so we didn’t actually eat again until we got to Indianapolis. 1^st place we went was Scotty’s Bar and Grill – It was based on a travel recommendation from a fellow Celiac dinner. When I looked up their menu I was in Heaven. There were quite a few options that sounded so good. I had to go big or go home, with my old time favorite appetizer, Nachos. I love nachos when eating out, I could eat them all day long. That paired with an Omission beer (Yes I’m one of those who don’t react to Omission, but a crumb on my plate will kill me for days) just made the 7 hours of horrible traffic and traveling seem worth it all. The waitress figured right away that I had Celiac because “those are the only people who order Omission. She even checked on my food when it was brought out to make sure I had the Tri Colored nacho chips so they weren’t fried in a shared fryer. I highly recommend getting the nachos if you go there! 

We always go to the Waffle House right by our hotel for breakfast. This can seem scary, it was for me the first time. But we learned the manager’s brother has a food allergy. When giving them my order of Scrambled eggs, hash browns (chunked and covered) and a side of bacon I make sure to tell them “No Toast, I’m allergic” – This isn’t the place to get into a long discussion on food intolerance and what happens. They always tell me they will Red Flag my meal and I’ve never had an issue with a meal there. The fact that I can watch them make my food at the bar does make me feel better. 

  
Lunches are generally snacks and food I pack for the day since the race track doesn’t have GF offerings and I’m not willing to chance it there.

Dinner on the Saturday is always at BJ’s Brewhouse. Our goal on this trip was to leave room for a Pizookie! I always salivate over their broccoli cheddar soup, but it use to only be available on Monday’s. Now it’s a regular item on their menu. I had to get a cup of soup, even though it was 95 degrees out. I got the balsamic chicken sans the fried onion straws. I’ve had this here before and liked it before. This time it was SO SALTY, I just couldn’t eat it. I tried, but was very disappointed in the meal this time. I definitely had room for the Pizookie. I could probably have just done soup and the Pizookie, which I may do next time.

Dinner the next night was at Cheeseburger in Paradise, it was close to the hotel, and all the locations around Chicago have closed, so it was a nice treat. They have a dedicated fryer for their French fries, which sounded so good! I’ll admit I couldn’t finish my burger but the food was tasty, and the server was very friendly and announced my burger as Gluten Free when it arrived. 

Monday we had a late lunch, early dinner and stopped at Puccini’s Smiling Teeth in Carmel, just North of Indianapolis. We discovered this place last year, and were eager to go back. Their pizza both gluten free and regular are quite unique and so tasty. Gluten Free pizza’s come out having been cooked in their own pan with a clean spatula, which is designated for that pizza alone. They even have several appetizers and pasta choices that can be made gluten free. We look forward to coming hear each year now. 
 

On our drive home, since we got a later start than we wanted, and we made a few stops along the way we stopped in Merriville at Chik-Fil-A and got a quick dinner, Grilled nuggets, waffle fries and a side of Chik-Fil-A Sauce hit the spot, oh and a splurge for a peach shake!