Gluten Free Vacation to Key Lime Cove Resort in Gurnee

We recently had the pleasure of spending a 3 day weekend at Key Lime Cove Resort in Gurnee, right across the street from Great America. It's very easy to spot from I-294 near the Grand Avenue exit.

We had heard from 2 different friends that the resort can accomodate gluten free dining. Back to my big pet peeve, this valuable information is not indicated anywhere on the website! I called and spoke to Chef Jeff who was very helpful and reassuring. I also spoke to him while dining. Chef Jeff shared that the resort is trying to improve the gluten free dining experience before advertising and announcing it on the website. Chef said they are hopeful to even have a gluten free party option, whereby all the diners could have a great gf dining experience. Sounds fantastic!

The gluten free food can be found at the D.W. Anderson's Eatery on the lower level. Here is the menu. For lunch and dinner, there are pizza crusts and buns from the French Meadow Bakery in Minnesota. Even french fries are available! The restaurant will fry them up in a clean pot of oil. Some of the salads are available and the manager was able to tell me which dressings are gluten free.

Breakfast was not an option for us. There is a buffet breakfast only. The restaurant will bring out fresh eggs, hash browns, and breakfast meats to avoid cross-contamination. I'm sure that is a fantastic offer for some. For us, my son does not eat these things. I asked Chef Jeff about gluten free pancakes and for now it is too difficult for the kitchen to prep them. We were staying in a suite with a refrigerator and dining table, so I brought fresh fruit and muffins and we were all very happy with our in-room breakfast.

A final note is that our food took longer than normal to prepare due to the extra steps needed, so plan accordingly!

Key Lime Cove offers a really fun waterpark with a lot of slides AND the safe gluten free dining options that my family needs. It was a great weekend.

Gluten Free Chicagoland Restaurant List

I had only been to the GF Grocery in Westchester twice. It was too far away. And now it is out of business, closed last week. I frequently was on the website, however, because they did have a long restaurant list. I copied it from them and will be adding my own restaurant finds to it as time goes on... so this list will be updating regularly! I have not been to many of these restaurants, so please use caution. Contact the restaurant first to make sure they are still in business and they can still accomodate a gluten free diner. I have excluded 2 suggested restaurants from my list, places where I personally have had a negative experience. Have any suggestions or recommendations?? I am happy to add them, just let me know!

Last updated 3/19/2011
This page is getting a lot of hits! Please leave me your own ideas and suggestions! Are there places to avoid? That may be a good list to start, as well...

Restaurants with multiple locations
Aurelio's Pizza GF Pizza
Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano GF Menu
Big Bowl GF Menu
Bonefish Grill GF Menu
Boston Market GF menu
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. GF menu
Carrabba's Italian Grill GF Menu
Carson's GF Menu
Cheeseburger In Paradise GF menu
Chili's Grill & Bar GF menu
Chipotle Mexican Grill GF burrito bowl
Claim Jumper Restaurant GF menu
Cooper's Hawk Winery GF menu
Deerfields Bakery GF baked goods
Ditka's Restaurants GF friendly
Five Guys Burgers and Fries everything except buns are GF
Flat Top Grill GF friendly
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse GF menu
Jason's deli GF Menu
Francesca's Restaurants GF pasta, AH site has GF menu
Kona Grill GF menu
Las Tablas Columbian Steakhouse GF knowledgeable
Lou Malnati's Pizzeria GF crustless pizza
Maggiano's Little Italy GF Pasta
Marcello's GF Menu
McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants GF friendly
The Melting Pot GF Menu
Mon Ami Gabi GF friendly
My Pi Pizza GF pizza & pasta
Olive Garden Italian Restaurant GF Menu
Outback Steakhouse GF Menu
Pei Wei Asian Diner GF Menu
PF Chang's China Bistro GF Menu
Piero's Pizza GF pizza
Pinstripes Bowling GF Menu
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers GF Menu
Roti Mediterranean Grill GF Menu
Stir Crazy GF friendly
Topolobompo & Frontera Grill GF friendly
Pizzeria Uno's GF Menu
Walker Brothers Pancake House GF pancakes
Weber Grill Restaurant GF Menu
Wildfire Restaurants GF Menu

Restaurants in North Suburbs
Bella Via (Highland Park) GF friendly
Bob Chinn's Crabhouse (Wheeling) GF friendly
Breadsmith (Highland Park) fresh GF baked on Wednesdays
City Park Grill (Highland Park) GF Menu
The Claim Company (Northbrook) GF Menu
Di Pescara (Northbrook) GF friendly
Golden Chef Cantonese & Szechwan Restaurant (Wheeling) entire menu available GF
Goode & Fresh Pizza Bakery (Glenview) GF Menu
The Happ Inn (Northfield) GF Menu
Main Street Smoke House (Libertyville) GF Menu
Malibu Pizza & Pasta (Skokie) GF Pizza
Max and Benny's Restaurant (Northbrook) GF Menu
Mitchell's Fish Market (Glenview) GF Menu
Nirvana Wine Bar and Grillerie (Vernon Hills) GF Menu
Rose's Bakery (Evanston) GF Bakery and Cafe
Risotto's Italian Ristorante (Gurnee) GF Menu
Smokin' T's BBQ (Long Grove) GF Menu
Sushi Kushi Toyo (Lake Forest and Vernon Hills) GF soy sauce
Tavern Libertyville Restaurant (Libertyville) GF friendly
Tsukasa of Tokyo (Vernon Hills) GF teriyaki & soy sauce

Restaurants in Northwest Suburbs
AFFRESCO Pizzeria & Lounge (Park Ridge) GF Menu
Barrington Gourmet (Barrington) GF Menu
Divino Gelato (Grayslake) GF Pizza
Gluten-Free Cookie Passion (Mundelein) GF Bakery
Graziano's (Niles) GF Menu
Julio's Latin Cafe (Lake Zurich) GF Menu
Kaiser's Pizza & Pub (Mundelein) GF Pizza
Mambo Italiano Ristorante (Mundelein) GF pasta
Nick's Pizza & Pub (Crystal Lake) GF Pizza
The Pizza Place and More (Crystal Lake) GF Pizza
Sunrise Grill (Des Plaines) (847)298-1600 GF friendly
Sweet Pea Cakes (Barrington) GF cupcakes Friday & Saturday
That Pasta Place (Grayslake) GF Menu

Restaurants in Chicago
Adobo Grill GF Menu
Belly Shack GF Menu
Ben Pao Chinese Restaurant GF Menu
The Balanced Kitchen GF Menu
Cafe Ba Ba Reeba GF friendly
Cassava Bread GF baked goods
The Chicago Diner GF Menu
Fattoush Lebanese Cuisine GF Friendly/GF pita
The Grill on the Alley GF Menu
Harry Caray's Tavern Navy Pier GF Menu
Il Vicinato 773-927-5444 Cermak & Western GF Pasta
Ina's GF Menu
Italian Village Restaurant GF friendly
Petterino's GF Menu
RL Restaurant GF friendly
Riva Crabhouse Navy Pier GF friendly
Roy's Restaurant GF friendly
Sol y Nieve GF Friendly
Swirlz Cupcakes GF cupcakes
Tipsy Cake GF baked goods
Vinci Chicago GF Menu
ZED451 GF Friendly

Restaurants in West Suburbs
Barone's (Glen Ellyn) GF Pizza
Da Luciano (River Grove) GF Menu
Emilio's Tapas (Hillside) GF Friendly
Gaetano's Cafe (Forest Park) GF friendly
Glen Prairie Fine Food (Glen Ellyn) GF Menu
Greco's Fine Italian Restaurant (Willow Springs) GF Pasta
Lucca's Pizzeria and Ristorante (LaGrange) GF pasta & pizza
Maya del Sol (Oak Park) GF friendly
Mykhas's Restaurant (Glen Ellyn) GF friendly
Prasino (La Grange & St. Charles) GF Menu
Prima La Pizza (Hillside) GF pizza & pasta
Q BBQ (La Grange) Gf Friendly
Roberto's Ristorante (Elmhurst) GF friendly
The Bank Restaurant (Wheaton) GF Menu
The Clubhouse (Oak Brook) GF friendly
Trattoria 225 (Oak Park) GF Menu
The White Chocolate Grill (Naperville) GF Menu


Restaurants in South Suburbs
Guardi's Pizza (Tinley Park) GF Pizza
OMG It's Gluten Free Cafe (Frankfort) All GF Cafe
Palermo's Italian Restaurant GF Menu

Eating gluten free at Tsukasa of Tokyo in Vernon Hills

My husband and I had wanted to take our boys out to a Japanese Steakhouse for a fun dinner. Following the celiac diagnosis, we assumed that we would be unable to do so. But we had a special event at the preschool and we wanted to go out for a fun celebratory dinner afterward. I googled all different word combinations of gluten-free-Japanese-steakhouse-Illinois and nothing popped up. I decided to call the local Japanese place to ask about gf options and I was absolutely delighted to learn that Tsukasa of Tokyo offers a gf option! Upon arrival, it was noted in the reservation log that we would be eating gluten-free, I really like this attention to detail.

Tsukasa offers wheat free tamari and wheat free teriyaki sauce. GF foods are cooked tableside first, and then the regular food is cooked to avoid any cross-contamination on the cooktop. We've been there twice- on December 6 and again on January 2. Sushi dishes are OK ordered with the wheat free tamari. The ginger sauce and hot mustard sauce both have soy sauce in them so are off limits. Too bad because the ginger sauce is really good. Our chefs were very happy to give us small dishes of the wheat free teriyaki sauce for dipping. The soup and salad are off-limits. We ordered plain salads and I brought my own Japanese steakhouse-style salad dressing. Here is the recipe:

http://www.suntimes.com/recipes/sauces/30638,benihanasaladdressing.recipe

There is no gluten free menu and both times our waitress spoke very little English, so it was very helpful that I had already spoken to the manager. Basically, any of the hibachi or teriyaki dishes are OK to order. The fried rice is OK, also. As you can see in my picture, the teriyaki sauce is in a clearly labeled bottle. The tamari was also clearly labeled.

We are so happy to have this option for a special dinner. Our boys had a great time, they loved the theatrics and the cooking and both boys are the food, as well. However, we did have problems during both visits. During our first visit we were a party of 5 and we all ordered gf. The manager approached us just prior to our food being cooked and he was angry that we were all eating gf as it would delay the orders of the 2 other people at our table. On our reservation it had been noted that there was only 1 gf diner. He moved those people to another table. His irritation was very obvious. During our second visit we were a party of 8 all ordering gluten free and we had our own table. The waitress brought us soup and she insisted that it was gluten free. We did not eat it because of my prior discussion with the manager. But there was clearly a discrepancy and due to the language barrier it was hard to discuss the specific ingredients with the waitress. During a follow-up telephone call the manager confirmed that the soup is not gf.

A Japanese steakhouse is only as good as the chef cooking and we had great fun during both visits. During the second visit, my 4 year old really really wanted to catch a piece of broccoli in his mouth. He began talking to the chef about it as soon as we arrived. After several misses, the chef told my son to tilt his head back and close his eyes. He then handed me a piece of broccoli that I dropped into my son's mouth. What a fabulous trick! My son now has a favorite restaurant and we will definitely be back. http://www.tsukasaoftokyo.com/