Chef TJ: Location and Time?

[mistysue]

• There really are restaurants not at all associated with Disney which can provide multiple-allergy-safe meals. Start with that list I suggested Googling. Come to Massachusetts. We've got a he'll of a lot to do and every single restaurant has a food safety officer on staff by law.

What exactly do you google for that? The chances of finding one current allergy review of any place, let alone a review that involves your same allergens are really low. Most places there is no information and if any dietary information is online it's a chain so every location has differences.

Unfortunately, it seems like there should be more places to go than there often are. Many restaurants get in items or work with ingredients that have some sort of pre-mix, coating, or the prep work means that they don't have raw basic ingredients to work with. The difference is that Disney tends to have raw ingredients. The meat didn't come with bread. All the fries don't have an egg wash. They don't pre-butter the steak or cook everything with ONE grill or fryer. Basically anywhere you go with specialties they prep that food in some way that effects common allergens. Just looking for top 8 free will rule out a solid 90% of most menus. Add common oils or seasonings and you're looking at going to a place and eating a plain baked potato, or waiting 45 minutes for a $10 side of veggies tossed in oil while your table mates are getting an amazing meal for $15. Then they don't have a separate area, so they might wipe off a counter just covered in breading, or grill something in a spot they just cooked eggs on.

 

[kaytieeldr]

What exactly do you google for that?

As stated earlier,

15 top chains for food allergies

But because that may work for me as it's already in my browser history, try The 15 most allergy-friendly restaurant chains.

 

[mistysue]

As stated earlier,

But because that may work for me as it's already in my browser history, try The 15 most allergy-friendly restaurant chains.

Basically an article that tells you to go look at allergy eats?
It's funny because most reviews near my house on that site are done by me or somebody dining with me.
3 places on that list have a location within 50 miles of me. 2 of the 3 we have had an allergic reaction at. The other one told us they can't serve our son. (Chipotle as a 4th is near a place we travel often, and that location was not confidence inspiring as they were nervous about it)

I appreciate the intent to be helpful, I really do, but it's really not that easy for everybody.

 

[KarenP64]

We have multiple food allergies in our family but have yet to meet Chef TJ. Last I heard was Trail's End at Ft Wilderness. HOwever, even never having Chef TJ, we have had wonderful meals at WDW...fav chefs have been at The Wave, O'Hana's, 1900 PF and fabulous managers at Captain Cook's. I am sure there are many, many others!

I've heard the Tonga Toast at Kona Café can be made vegan; do you know if the Tonga Toast at Captain Cook's can be made vegan too? Thanks!

 

[wendow]

I've heard the Tonga Toast at Kona Café can be made vegan; do you know if the Tonga Toast at Captain Cook's can be made vegan too? Thanks!

I am not sure about the Tonga Toast at Captain Cook's as we did not eat breakfast there. But your post reminds me that we have had excellent chefs at Kona also in regards to allergies.

 

[Mum23]

I've heard the Tonga Toast at Kona Café can be made vegan; do you know if the Tonga Toast at Captain Cook's can be made vegan too? Thanks!

For an allergy for for a lifestyle choice? I believe they used a shared fryer so it would depend if you are okay with that from what I have read/heard.

 

[stackyallred]

OP here- A big thanks for all the replies! I appreciate the help in trying to answer my question.

Just to be clear, My family and I have been doing Disney trips for years with our special diet needs. We are very aware that Chef TJ is not the only chef who can help us. In fact, out of what I'm estimating is over 65 table service meals over the last few years, I've only had maybe 6 less-than-stellar experiences. And 5 of those were perfectly edible and safe- they just weren't as nice as the others (LTT did serve me unsafe food but thankfully I realized it before consumption). The amount of above average meals we have been given is pretty amazing considering my son and I have so many foods to avoid and I couldn't be more thankful for that. My search for a specific chef was simply based on hearing great things about him and wanting to broaden our range of places to eat. Yes, I can eat just about anywhere on WDW property but I prefer to go places that have more options for those in our shoes. Its the same concept as anyone looking up restaurant reviews and choosing based on who gets the most compliments.

Us allergy people do have unique situations so what works for me won't necessarily work for you but there are often some locations that are repeatedly praised for handling special diets. I try to find what places that seem to be favored by a high number of those with multiple allergies. In case this might help someone else, our consistently helpful and favorite "can't miss every trip" places are Sanaa, Flying Fish (closed until late this year),Tusker House, Be Our Guest, Raglan Road, Cookes of Dublin, Sunshine Seasons, Flame Tree BBQ and The Mara. And we stock up on Erin McKenna's Bakery (formerly Babycakes) items at the beginning of every trip since we typically do not get safe desserts at restaurants. But again, I know that others may have to avoid these places for the very reasons we love it!

As others have said, simply searching online for safe places is extremely challenging because no search brings up exactly what I need to know for our specific challenges. I do wish it were easier to eat out at other locations and as time goes on, it seems more places are listing their ingredients and allergy lists (though they usually only include the top 8 and we go far beyond that). It's frustrating but it is what it is and we've learned to deal with it. We eat healthier and cheaper at home and just look forward to our Disney trips!

 

[Selket]

We just got back from our trip last night and had great experiences all around - but my son's allergies are the most common type (peanut, tree nut and shellfish) so every chef is very used to those. I was looking at your list of "go to" restaurants and one of them on there - Raglan Road - is actually our worst experience ever at Disney - lol! They actually served him a dessert with almonds and tried to lie about it. They never responded to letters or emails written to them afterwards either (believe me I didn't want a free dinner - and I was on the meal plan so I'd already paid for it really - but you'd think a response would have been the honorable thing to do). Hopefully our bad experience a singular event but I'm sure we'd never go back.

We also had a bad experience with a chef at Chef Mickey's (a long time ago - like 11 years - the food was safe but he was exceptionally rude) and never went back there until the trip this week and had a great time. So much does depend on the chef - one reason Chef TJ is so special. Let me know how your trip goes!