I did some research and have found a great restaurant: Memphis Taproom. It has a number of vegan items on the menu that are either already gf or can be made to be gf, and the chef knows all about gluten contamination issues and is sensitive to requests to prepare carefully. I ate lunch there this past week. I had the squash stew with rice. I can't wait to go back and try the bbq jackfruit. And there's one other thing -- something with coconut -- that I'll try too. The restaurant was funky and hip. It's apparently a well-kept secret for lunch -- my friend and I were the only ones in the dining room from 12:15 - 1:30 pm -- so we didn't have to wait for a table. Parking was easy. The downsides are that the seats are hard and that it is not walking distance. I had eaten at Memphis Taproom once before about a year ago, but learned about their gluten awareness through the Gluten-Free Philly website.
I also walked to El Rey near 20th and Chestnut one afternoon. They participated in the gf eat-a-thon, but everything was cheesy, so I wasn't sure if I would truly be able to get anything interesting to eat there. When I went in, I talked to someone who seemed to know what she was talking about. We looked at a menu together and I got some definite possibilities. I haven't eaten there yet, but I might this week. It's an affordable Steven Starr restaurant near a lot of offices, so I expect that they are packed at lunchtime. But, it is in easy walking distance of my office, so that's a plus. So, two new restaurants that are kind of interesting that are making a point of accommodating the GF crowd. Now I really want to find an Indian Restaurant that I can have confidence in having GF experience. A week and a half ago, I had an appointment with my hematologist, who reported that my iron levels have improved, which is terrific! I take it as confirmation that my gf diet is working. I noted that I've still been having some unpleasant GI symptoms (and I still am), he essentially said "I'm a hematologist. Go see your gastroenterologist." I told him I didn't like the GI doc that I had gotten the celiac diagnosis from but that the doc I had heard good things about had such a packed schedule that it would have taken many more weeks to get in to see her. He said that he'd have his office set up an appointment. I'm thinking that he's got some doc-to-doc juice and can get me an appointment pretty quick. A couple of days later his office called to say that the appointment was set for the first week in December. 6 weeks! Some juice!
In the meantime, I got info about the Celiac Center at Jefferson when I was at the eat-a-thon. I've decided that it doesn't make any sense to not have them as my medical team for managing my celiac disease. I tried all week to talk to an actual person in their office to get an appointment set, but to no avail. Very frustrating. I'm hoping that once I get into the groove with them, it won't be so hard. Oh, and the hematologist's office called a couple of days after the appointment to tell me that I'm deficient in folate and that I should take a folic acid supplement. However, I've read that folic acid can increase risks for certain types of cancer. I'd rather seek to increase my folate consumption through diet, which means eating even more green leafies. I'm now on a quest for a blender so that I can start incorporating more green smoothies into my diet. I also want to talk to the dietician at Jeff when I finally get hooked in there to get a real plan for any nutritional deficiencies and to get a read on my bone density. |
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January 2024
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