Are you sure you trust Cracker Barrel?

[ostrich]

After emailing them about their gluten-free items, this was the response I got:

[cruelshoes]

[aklap]

Be sure to try out our French toast too!

Os, do you mind if I send this to my friend Anne? Her husband's brother or BIL is the owner of Cracker Barrel in TN. I know she has tried to get thru to them, but it has fallen on deaf ears.
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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[isto]

When we went to Cracker Barrel, it was on a trip from Ohio to NY. We just stopped there hoping to find something to eat that would be safe. There was no GF menu, but the chef was familiar w/Celiac disease and was able to steer us to what was safe. The selection was not large, but we had plain catfish and potatoes and left feeling great. Didn't get sick later, either. If it were not for the chef, no one would have understood what we were talking about when we brought up gluten.

I have eaten there since then, and I always order the plain catfish and potatoes. Haven't gotten sick yet.

[ostrich]

The funniest part is I sent them my standard "where's the gluten" email, and got this back. My reply was something along the lines of "WTF I didn't ask about low cal items." Still no response.

Al, go right ahead!
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[GFPolarBear]

I have eaten at a Cracker Barrel in Ohio (Dayton/Vandalia to be exact) and one of the managers there was very knowledgeable about gluten and CC issues. He was able to steer me towards some suggestions, made sure the area where my food was prepped was cleaned thoroughly before use, and I had a fine experience with no problems during or later.

(I don't know why on the good Lord's green earth there's gluten in the hash brown casserole, but that's a rant for another time. )

I did get a rather tasty eggs/bacon breakfast and subbed a baked potato, if memory serves.

They used to have a list of GF offerings on their website, but it seems to have vanished.

[John]

I miss Cracker Barrel ... and I know some people have had luck with good and knowledgeable management, but it seems like its pretty risky overall and highly dependent on the specific location.

Its not like I could get the chicken-fried-chicken, anyway
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[StaceyMac]

Amazingly, when I e-mailed them they sent me a list of the GF items. I copied it from the e-mail and here it is:

The following is a list of menu items that do not contain wheat, barley, or rye products as an ingredient(the modified food starch in the fried apples is from corn). However, we have an open kitchen where biscuits and dumplings are made from scratch several times daily. Many of our grill items do not contain glutents but are prepared on the same equipment as products that do. There is always a chance that cross-transference may occur.

Please inform a manager of your sensitivity when you visit one of our stores to ensure that every effort is made to prevent the accidental transfer of glutens via the handling and preparation of your meal.

Grill Items: hamburger steak, ribeye and sirloin steak, grilled catfish, grilled trout, grilled pork chops, country ham, city ham, bacon, eggs, pork sausage, turkey sausage

Side Items: carrots, cole slaw, corn, fried apples, green beans, mashed potatoes, baked potato, pinto beans, turnip greens

Excluding the fried chicken tender salad and chunky chicken (homemade chicken salad) salad, salads ordered without croutons would not contain glutens. See the ingredient statements below for our salad dressings choice.

The vinegars used in the salad refined distilled grain vinegars. According to the American Celiac Disease Alliance, "Distilled alcoholic beverages and vinegars are gluten-free. Distilled products do not contain any harmful gluten peptides. Research indicates that the gluten peptide is too large to carry over in the distillation process. This leaves the resultant liquid gluten-free."

Buttermilk Dressing: cultured buttermilk, soybean oil, water, egg yolk, distilled vinegar, salt, corn syrup, sugar, spices, lactic acid, xanthan gum, guar gum, onion*, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate added as preservatives, garlic*, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, calcium disodium EDTA added to protect flavor. *DEHYDRATED

Peppercorn Dressing: soybean oil, water, sour cream solids, egg yolk, distilled vinegar, salt, spices, dehydrated garlic, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate added as preservatives, natural flavor, calcium disodium EDTA added to protect flavor.

Honey French Dressing: high fructrose corn syrup, soybean oil, corn-cider vinegar, distilled vinegar, tomato paste, salt, paprika, spices, xanthan gum, onion*, honey, invert sugar, beet juice concentrate, garlic*, natural flavor. *DEHYDRATED

Honey Mustard Dressing: soybean oil, water, high fructrose corn syrup, distilled vinegar, honey, egg yolk, mustard seed, sugar, salt, spice, white wine, natural flavor, xanthan gum, citric acid, tartartic acid, artificial color (including yellow #5), calcium disodium EDTA added to protect flavor.

1000 Island Dressing: soybean oil, water, pickles, sugar, tomato paste, distilled vinegar, high fructrose corn syrup, egg yolk, salt, spice, sodium benzoate, and potassium sorbate added as preservatives, natural and artificial flavors, onion*, bell peppers, garlic*, calcium disodium EDTA to protect flavor, xanthan gum, guar gum, polysorbate 80. *DEHYDRATED

This list is current as of June, 2007. I hope this helps everyone.
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[GFPolarBear]

To be completely honest, even if a restaurant has a GF menu, I pay more attention to how knowledgeable the staff, particularly the management, is. For example, the manager at the Cracker Barrel where I ate gave me a great deal of confidence, and I had a wonderful experience. But, I've been to an Outback in the Twin Cities where the croutons had very clearly been picked off of my salad, leaving crumbs. (I'm just glad I'm paranoid about salads...)

(They brought me a fresh salad with profuse apologies, and this is the only even remotely bad encounter I've had at an Outback - the rest have been fantastic and usually involved a very informed server or manager - but it warrants mentioning.)

[ostrich]

Oh, I agree. I've gotten some awesome help before, and it's more reassuring when the management understands and works with you.

However, I would consider Jason management, and he's not instilling much confidence in me with his response. I hope he doesn't send out the same response to everybody with a food issue.
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of