Our meal was fabulous and the rain held off so we had a nice meal on their patio. I give them 4 dragonflies because they have a bunch of options that are GF, and they are tasty. Do keep note that they have a shared fryer for GF items that are fried. So keep that in mind when ordering off the menu. I wish they wouldn't mark those items, as it can be confusing when ordering, to know what really are safe options. Otherwise they seem knowledgeable and diligent with the food on all orders.
My husband found Church St. Brewery several years back. Riding the Metra he would see their large sign that faces the back yard (which they were not using at the time) but made us aware of them, and then one of his favorite food trucks started going there.
Originally they had a tiny taproom where you sat at wine barrels for tables, very speak easy like. As they've grown, they've expanded a couple times, making the tap room larger, and getting formal seating options. As well as expanding the back yard and making it a nice beer garden. During Covid they put up a tent and added some umbrellas to tables so you had some shade coverage. This year they've installed pergolas in the back. They also set up for live music in the back as well as inside.
They've also grown their options of what they serve. They experimented with a gluten reduced beer. They also joined in on the hard seltzer game. The one thing that severely irks me about their hard seltzers. They are Gluten Reduced, NOT GLUTEN FREE! I hate that seltzers are not a clear cut gluten free option. When going anywhere new if an establishment has a hard seltzer brand I don't know, I always ask if it's gluten free, which draws a lot of eye roll reactions. I always bring up Church St, that their seltzers are not gluten free.
Several other breweries around us have started making their own vodka and whiskey, which has made Church St. start serving cocktails and even wine from Lynfred down the road. Which meant options that were safer for me. We also loved that they would have a rotation of food trucks, or we brought our own food. One day we were shocked to show up and see they had a food menu. When we were told going forward we couldn't bring our own food, I questioned them on Gluten free options and they said "Yes we do!" and brought us a menu.
We've since had a couple of their dips, a salad, (Cause they ran out of Cauliflower crusts) and their pizza on Cauliflower crust. The last time we ere there they said they have a customer show up weekly to get their GF pizza saying it was worth the trip. I agree! It is squishy and tasty, I have to always ask and confirm they brought the right pizza out.It's not your typical crusty had gluten free pizza. With their expansion in the liquor they have options like margarita flights for Cinco De Mayo, and Mint Juleps for the Kentucky Derby. So it's a nice rotation of options for me on drinks, and a place with a great place to casually hang out, and being a brewery it doesn't feel like I have to eat, we can just enjoy some drinks and chill.
I give them 4 dragonflies, cause I'd love to see a GF beer option, not gluten reduced... Even if it was from another brewery like Alt or Lakefront. But they have wine, and spirits to choose from, and that pizza, (The meat-za, and the pear one they had last summer). Everyone is super nice and not pretentious when explaining the need for gluten free, they have other regulars who also explained to them, so it's a very comfortable environment.
I will admit, we're pretty lucky that we have a Chinese restaurant near us that has gluten free food options. It isn't a huge menu, but for me, the best part is they have fried rice. If you can make a good gluten free fried rice, everything is A-OK. Now if they had egg rolls, that would be amazing, but I know I can't have everything.
8,000 Miles is right by our house, and truth be told, we've never had a bad meal with them. The owners have a second location TL's Four Seasons, near by. We have not been there, but heard it's just as good. Luckily what we like about 8,000 is their Crispy Sesame Chicken, and Crunch Garlic Shrimp are both super tasty and filling. Usually we get some GF fried rice to go with it, and I'm happy as can be.
We ordered online for pick up from them during covid, and they are one of the few places, I've never felt I need to check the food before leaving the restaurant, because they have great labeling, and will call you if they're concerned on an order. My husband wanted crab Rangoon (He's not GF) - and ordered that with our GF meals, (We got 2 GF entrees, so we could share), and they called to make sure we knew the crab Rangoons were not safe.
The only reason I'd give them lower than 5 dragonflies would be selection, a beef dish would be nice, if they can do beef fried rice, why not a beef and broccoli dish? I have never asked for something not on the gluten free menu, but am considering it, since it is pretty tasty!
To quote Einstein - Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Having a food allergy or intolerance can seem daunting, because you can never let down your guard. We are very cautious on where we eat out and pick places that have better handling and knowledge of things. But that doesn’t always mean that it works that nicely.
We have a great local place that we love, but we are now on strike 3 of getting a meal that we trust, when we get takeout. Dining in is fine, but any to go meal there is an issue. I got asked, “why do you go back” – We’ll it’s hard to find good options of different foods, so where do you compromise?
Doing take out during Covid, and poor service from restaurants has made us extra meticulous at checking our order before we leave. Every Single Time! Because nothing irks me even more than getting home and not having food that I can eat!
Our last visit, to a place we love, we checked the food, and noticed my husband’s plate wasn’t what he wanted, but he said it was fine, it was something he liked. My meal looked fine; our shared plate looked fine. When we got to our destination, and I took a bite of our shared plate I could tell right away, it wasn’t what we ordered. My heart sank, and panic set in. How could we be duped for the 3rd time. After spitting out my food and trying to not cry, my husband walked up and asked what was wrong. I showed him and he started to fume. Some back and forth we decided to hold off either of us eating anymore and stop at the restaurant on the way home to show them the issue and ask for a refund.
Upon
walking in and telling them, they assured me the meal was gluten free,
but they could see I was still not happy. They did make a new plate for
us and had their co-owner who is also Celiac come out and talk to us.
She kept saying it wasn’t their fault, their vendor who makes the gluten
free items, makes only gluten free items one day of the week. So while
the filling in the product was wrong, it was still gluten free. I kept emphasizing to her how this is still an issue, cause it causes concern if we got the wrong order, (Has happen there before, or it's the Non-GF version). On a previous trip we were confused because we ordered different flavors of items, but my husband ended up being given the same flavors as me, but Not Gluten free. Again, we started to freakout how to tell the difference and make sure I got the right food.
We
chatted on how hard it is to get good help that is able to make sure
they’re doing a consistently good job. How awful is that, that people
handling food, just don’t care! I'd be less annoyed if they didn't have a sign hanging by the register how all meals are checked by a food safety manager trained in allergies. Yet I'm annoyed, trust broken, and telling myself I'm OK cause my instincts were right stop eating when something was wrong, but still annoyed we had such a hassle and extra drama to deal with. We've called about issues in the past, and been refunded, as they were closing and couldn't get replacement meal in time. Knowing that they have had issues in the past, you'd think as someone with Celiac owning the place, they would work to be better, over all. But It may be too much to ask for these days.
Rant over for now. But I'm sure there will be a follow rant on the same topic soon, sadly.
I will randomly just scroll thru Find Me Gluten Free, just to see if something new, different, or interesting gets posted. I get excited when something different pops up, just cause it's nice to go somewhere new, try something else, and not eat the same things. Riccardo's popped up recently, and I realize I go to the grocery store right across the street once a week!
We decided to take the family and check it out. It's set back and not the easiest to find if you're not looking for it. The inside reminded me of a family run dinner style from the early 1990's. The gluten free menu is not huge by any means, but they have some great options like ravioli, mostaccioli, and different chicken dishes. My favorite part is they serve the Udi's rolls as an option for gluten free! It's $1 a roll and they will ask how many rolls you want.
They have 1 soup option that is safe, the minestrone soup. What kills me is they only have the house vinegar dressing for the salad option. Which I just don't understand 75% if not more of dressings bought in store are safe, but the moment you eat out, NONE are an option! Ugh! Though they do have a couple gluten free dessert options which is awesome. I still get hung up on the salad dressing, like how hard is it to have a safe dressing that doesn't taste like it would be a cleaning solution!
