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!

Lahaina Grill (fka David Paul's Lahaina Grill) - Kihie, Maui

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In Brief: The staff acts like GF meals are a daily occurrence. They did have one misstep, and it was clear they didn't know everything about GF diets, but their misstep was remedied quickly and with a lot of class. It's clear that the chef and the waitstaff work as a team. We had a safe experience. Four stars only because the wait staff was a bit inexperienced with GF diets.

Previously this restaurant was named David Paul's Lahaina Grill. Its been in business since 1990. The name changed in December 2007, but the owner, Jurg Munch and the exceptional food and service are still the same. The exceptional service came through loud and clear for us.

The night we visited this fine restaurant we had two adults who require a GF diet. The wait staff was more than attentive and was quite knowledgeable however, he admitted that he didn't know everything about celiac and it was clear that he had more to learn. We did hear the classic "So, you can't eat potatoes, right?" and this did worry us a bit (and thus the four stars) however, it soon became clear that he was going to do whatever it took to make our dining experience as smooth as possible.

Our waiter showed the signs of someone who was very interested in our needs. He: 1) made a list of what looked good to us to double check with the chef, 2) offered suggestions that he felt would be safe, 3) knew for a FACT that the broth base was made on-site and contained only vegetables.

Appetizers, salad all came to us safe and GF. So what was the misstep? The fish my wife ordered came with blue cheese crumbles, she knew to ask that these be left off of the fish since blue cheese is often started with bread (I don't claim to be a cheese expert but she avoids blue cheese). The wait staff checked with the chef and assured us that it would be no problem to leave the blue cheese off of the fish and that there would be no cross contamination issues.

The meal arrived and, you guessed it, blue cheese on the fish. Now here's the interesting part. The waiter noticed this at the same time my wife did; he promptly grabbed the dish, apologized and made a mad dash to the kitchen. He returned in a few minutes apologizing for the blue cheese. Now, this is a great sign but it can also be worrisome. Anyone with celiac who's experienced this knows that one of two things are probably going on in the kitchen 1) they're making a brand new meal (no risk that way of cross contamination) or 2) they are quickly scraping the blue cheese off of the fish and will return in a few minutes with a unsafe non-GF meal.

I am happy to report that option 2 is how the Lahaina Grill handled the matter. And as an additional plus; the dish was on the house. We ended the meal being able to select from a number of GF desserts too.

Yes, I would recommend Lahaina Grill; and no, it's not because the dish was free... :) it's because they really worked to give us a GF experience. I'm sure with more experience they could quickly earn five stars. Oh, and the non-GF meal I had? I had the veal and it was out of this world!

Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar - Kihei Maui

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In Brief: Sansei gave us a GF meal but it was a bit of a work out for us. The wait staff worked hard to assist us but you can tell they aren't really used to this type of a request. NOTE: we called ahead and they confirmed they could accomodate a gluten free menu. I debated about giving them only three stars but decided that I need a way to communicate a level of experience for the chef and the wait staff. Three stars shows they tried and succeeded! However if we didn't spell out the entire meal VERY carefully for them they may have not provided us with a GF experience.

I LOVE sushi and Sansei is a great sushi place! The menu is very complete and their creations are amazing. We introduced the GF dietary requirements to our waitress; we gave her our Select Wisely lamented GF diet card and then heard the kind of response that makes us especially careful; "Oh, so you're allergic to rice, right?" :(

Regardless of that first misstep we had hope for our waitress; she seemed genuinely interested in ciliac and wanted to help us out. My wife carefully and thoughtfully explained ciliac, grains that contain gluten and the dangers of cross contamination. Our waitress listened carefully and then recommended a fried sushi roll. Yeah, we were worried...

As it worked out we asked lots of questions, carefully directed her attention to the menu items we were interested in and after four trips to the kitchen (by the way; our waitress never complained) it was decided that Mahi-mahi, white rice and a house salad without dressing would be safe. There probably would have been other options for us if the wait staff and kitchen would have been more experienced with GF diets but we came away with a GF meal so everyone was happy.

Will we go again? Hard to say... I do love their sushi but I'm not sure we're willing to risk it again. Maybe I'll go there sometime for happy hour and pu-pu's? :)

Ferraro's Bar e Ristorante - Kihei Maui

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In Brief: Ferraro's was a hit! While the menu is a bit pricey, they can boast gluten free pasta and a wait staff and kitchen (chef) that really went out of their way to make our meal GF (safe) and memorable.

At first blush an Italian restaurant is not often on the list of places that we seek out in the U.S for a GF meal (this is not the case in Northern Italy - but that's for another post). However, Ferraro's Bar e Ristorante in the Four Seasons in Kihei came through in a big way.

Tonight was a real test for this restaurant. Three folks with celiac were at the table; two adults and one eight year old little boy. Finding a GF meal for each of these tastes can be a challenge but not so at Ferraro's.

The wait staff seemed knowledgeable about celiac. But experience told us not to take his positive attitude at face value. However he proved that he really did get it when he offered up gluten free pasta, and a list of the entrees on the menu that would be safe. Just for good measure he asked the 'chef' (note, not just the 'kitchen') to verify a few questions we came up with about some fish entrees.

They even made sure that the dessert that our eight year old nephew ordered was made GF by removing a few ingredients; believe me he didn't mind one bit!

The meal was great (the non-GF meal I had was great too), the view was awesome and everyone with celiac got away safe. In short, if you're looking for a good meal, great views and attentive staff along with a GF experience you're probably going to be okay at Ferraro's at least we were last time we ate there.