Cheeseburger Island Style - Wailea, Maui

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In Brief: A hamburger joint that met our GF needs without a hitch. They handled our special requests easily, the wait staff was well educated in the ways of the kitchen and the meal came off perfectly, and GF!

When my wife and I think of going to a burger joint we don't plan on her usually eating with me, the risks of cross contamination are too great. Cheeseburger Island Style was the exception to that rule. My wife decided that she wanted to try a getting a burger without a bun. So we started the meal off with the cileac diet explanation and dietary explanation card. Our waitress immediately understood the diet, and was quick to put us at ease. She explained how the grill was set up; how only burgers were cooked in one section of the grill, how the buns never touched the grill, how the meat with marinade was cooked on a separate part of the gill, etc., etc. It was clear after a few minutes with her that she knew her stuff.

To be safe she checked with the kitchen to make sure that the meal could include the toppings; things like lettuce, tomato, pickle, etc. without risk of cross contamination. She came back to tell us that the toppings would be safe and explained the compartmental style of the kitchen.

I was very impressed with this restaurant. The place was 'crazy busy' yet the wait staff handled our request with style and didn't make us feel like they were too busy to deal with a special diet.

Our experience here proves the point made in earlier blog posts; an educated wait staff and a professional kitchen can make any restaurant a great GF experience. We had no problem getting a GF meal at Cheeseburger Island Style, I hope you have the same experience.

Fred's Mexican Cafe - Kihei, Maui

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In Brief: A Mexican restaurant with a GF menu?! Yes! We dinned safely at Fred's.

I don't usually expect a Mexican restaurant to have great GF experience or sensibilities. This isn't a slam against Mexico, it's just been our experience that we need to be very selective about what to order when visiting this type of restaurant.

For this meal we had two adults and one eight year old little boy who require a GF menu. One adult ate before we left for lunch and the little boy was expecting to eat a lunch that his mom packed for him. Wow, were we ever surprised when the waiter responded to a GF question (it was decided to try and get corn tortillas) with; "Oh, wait a minute, you need our wheat free menu". We all looked at each other and said, "Uh, yeah, that would be nice."

These guys have their act together! Their menu is actually a list of items that they think are safe and things they don't think are GF. They offer a few suggestions, tell you what items that make up a meal you should substitute and in the end remind you that they can only do their best.

Now get this; Fred's had a staff meeting to address the GF menu requirements they are constantly getting. The output of that meeting was this GF menu/guide. This is something that other restaurants could really learn from. Our waiter thinks that this guide exists at all of their affiliated restaurants too... well we plan to find out! :)

To top it all off, as my wife was ordering her lunch, the waiter said, "You better not get the black beans, they're made with a broth that contains wheat." Now that's the kind of experience that puts you at ease.

A GF Mexican restaurant named Fred's on Maui, we dinned there safely!