Wildfire Restaurant in Chicago, located in River North, was the first Chicago restaurant I ever went to that had gluten-free options. (Insert, ooh, ahh, here). That was back in November 2011, shortly after my Celiac diagnosis and after Ken moved up to Chicago.
When my family was in town visiting a couple weeks ago, I figured that Wildfire would be an easy option as a) they take reservations (we’re known to be a group of hangry people when there is a long wait), and b) they have things like burgers on the menu (historically, my brother rotates his meal selection between some variation of burger, or spaghetti and meatballs if we’re at an Italian place).
So how was it? First off, Wildfire has themselves a hard-bound gluten-free menu here, folks. Thumbs up all around. Second, as this is a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant, I’ve found that the servers are super knowledgeable about gluten-free and more than willing to seek out the answer from the kitchen if they don’t know.
They brought GF bread and butter to our table, which is ALWAYS appreciated. It’s nothing fancy – I believe this is what they also use for their sandwiches — but hey, ain’t gonna complain if someone sets down GF carbs in front of me.
When I was here with Ken a couple years back, I got the baked goat cheese with flatbread for an appetizer (which is also the same crust as their pizza). I recall that being delicious. Goat cheese can do no wrong.
Despite the plentiful GF options on the menu, I actually ended up getting something off the regular menu that caught my eye: the East Coast Sea Scallops with fresh garlic spinach and a chipotle butter sauce. The non-GF version is usually crusted with potato and Panko; however, the server said it was no problem to prepare those GF. These were pretty solid scallops — not the best I’ve ever had, but definitely a good choice.
For my side I got this bad boy:
I mean…if there’s gluten-free mac & cheese on the menu, it’s almost a sin to not get it. Right? Right. Glorious cheesy heaven should be the more accurate description of this menu item — it was so good. If you go here, get this. And report back to me. Plus, it’s huge — so I ended up making another meal out of it with leftovers.
The last time I was here I got this pizza with Italian sausage and caramelized onions — the crust wasn’t mindblowing, but it was a great pizza all around.
As if I hadn’t carb-loaded enough, my brother and I split the GF chocolate chip cookies … oh and yeah, added ice cream to it. They are served warm, and that scoop of ice cream really helps jazz it up. My brother doesn’t eat GF, and he thought they were pretty delicious. So I’d say that’s a pretty good sign, eh?
All in all, I highly recommend for the Celiac crowd. Enjoy!
Until next time,
Kate
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