Burtons Grill for the Win!

After yesterday's rotten gluten-free experience, I hit the Web looking for gluten-free-friendly restaurant chains, figuring this would be much easier than identifying lots of local restaurants. I found the Gluten Free Travel restaurant guide, which mentioned Burtons Grill as being particularly friendly to gluten-sensitive patrons. So I checked out their kids' menu, and I was stunned. They have the best kids' menu, gluten free or not, that I've ever seen in a major chain.

It's called {B} Choosy, and it allows kids to choose exactly what they want from five different food groups: protein, vegetable, fruit, grain, and dairy. Finally! A restaurant that goes out of their way to include vegetables in kids' meals. Not only that, they offer them in the portion sizes recommended by the USDA. So rather than an absurd heap of french fries and two measly 1/8-inch slices of apple (what kids' meals offer at Border Cafe), you get a small portion of fries and a nearly equal portion of both fruit and veg. One of the dairy selections is frozen yogurt, so that means dessert is included. All for $6.

Best of all, everything - and I do mean everything - on the kids' menu is either gluten free or has a gluten free version. Yes, that includes the pasta! So your gluten-challenged child can get exactly the same thing her non-challenged sister is getting.

We tried out Burtons Grill at the Northshore Mall in Peabody this evening, and it more than lived up to our expectations. As at Not Your Average Joe's, they served Eleanor her own gluten-free roll with butter and gave Annie and I their standard fresh bread with a lovely pesto dipping oil (Annie opted for some of Eleanor's butter). Eleanor delightedly ordered chicken fingers, french fries, mixed fruit, tomatoes, and frozen yogurt. Annie ordered a hamburger with cheddar cheese, carrot sticks, apple slices, and potato chips. The girls happily shared chips and fries between them, and Eleanor polished off Annie's apples. The only thing on Annie's plate she wouldn't have been able to eat was the hamburger bun. I tried a bite of chicken finger; it was tender and delicious. I would never have guessed that the batter was gluten free. Similarly, Annie's burger was moist, cooked to medium as requested, and quite tasty. The chips were amazing, cut lengthwise and enormous, clearly made in house.

I was quite pleased with the adult menu. It ranged in price from $12 burgers and flatbread pizzas (also all available in gluten-free crusts) to high end dishes such as $22 crab cakes and $30 surf and turf. I opted for the $18 chicken and wild mushroom ravioli, which was delightful. The chicken was grilled but not dry, tender and delicious. The mushroom cream sauce was nicely accented by cubes of cooked butternut squash. And the raviolis themselves, while not so wild (pretty sure they were stuffed with a combination of portobellos and shiitakes) were nonetheless very tasty, with the mushrooms fully cooked and lacking the grainy texture I often encounter in mushroom raviolis.

So this is a place you can bring the kids for an inexpensive, casual dinner or a more upscale, indulgent meal. The waitstaff was excellent, highly attentive, and very accomodating of Eleanor's needs. I also liked the atmosphere, which was cozy with background music that both the girls and I enjoyed. My one gripe is that none of the food was local or organic, which I try to support whenever possible. Overall, though, I'm delighted. I think this is our new go-to restaurant.

Restaurant Ratings:

3 smileys for attentive, friendly service


3 carrots for well-balanced, healthy food

 

3 moos for a good range in prices