Big Daddy's Burger Bar

As many people with Celiac's Disease, I've become accustomed to eating my burger's without a bun. It's often the cause of a little bit of ridicule at a cook out ("What, are you trying to lose weight or something?") or at the Wendy's drive-thru ("You ain't want no breaaad!??"). The low carb trend was a big help because many restaurants got used to the idea of people ordering burger's without buns. Basically, I came to terms with the fact that my version of a burger would always include a knife and fork.
Not so fast. Back in April, when my parent's were in town, we stopped at Big Daddy's Burger Bar in Dilworth for brunch. On the way out, my dad stopped and read the posted menu on the outside wall.

"You know they have a gluten free menu here?" He asked me. At first, I wasn't surprised; so many restaurants claim to have a "Gluten Free Menu" when really, all it is is a collection of their salad list. We left the restaurant and I didn't think about it again for a while. I received a couple of texts from friends over the following month about the gluten free menu there (my friends have gotten in the habit of pointing out everything they see that's gluten free and I'm grateful for it).

I finally found myself back at Big Daddy's Burger Bar and decided to check this gluten free menu out for myself. I was surprised to find that it was pretty in depth and even included gluten free buns! After talking with the waitress, I found out that the actual burger has to be made gluten free because the seasoning used in the regular burgers contained gluten. Also, they offered Cape Cod potato chips to gluten free customers because they couldn't guarantee the GF-ness (new word?) of their other side items. If you don't want the gluten free bun, they also offer a lettuce wrap (Good bye fork! Good bye knife!).

I ordered the gluten free burger with cheese AND the gluten free bun, pretty excited to try it out. When it came, my roommate, who was sitting across from me, told me it looked like a biscuit rather than a bun. I took a second look and she was right, but what did I care, I just wanted to find out how it tasted. The first bite was pretty dry and very crumbly. I felt like I was clutching on to pieces of the biscuit-bun for dear life so that it didn't fall apart all together. As I ate more of the burger, the bun began to absorb the juice from the burger and became soggy to the point where it was almost unrecognizable. I was not impressed, and slightly embarrassed by how difficult this burger was to eat.

I came back a second time and gave the bun a second chance, but got the same result. I found out that The Thoughtful Baker is the actual creator of this gluten free bun and while I very much appreciate the thoughtfulness behind it, the actual bun is not impressive what-so-ever.

Now when I go to Big Daddy's I order the Gluten Free burger, without a bun. The servers are always extremely helpful and quick to point out that certain items I order (the pesto) are not guaranteed to be Gluten Free.

Honestly, I absolutely love Big Daddy's and the fact that they're so informed of the GF allergy is a great help, I just wouldn't recommend getting the Gluten Free bun. Here's their information if you'd like to check it out for yourself:

www.bigdaddysburgerbar.com

1626 East Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28203-5822
(704) 714-4888

I LOVE Cupcakes

Some of you may know that my job involves working with children with autism. Recently I started getting a lot of questions from parents of these kids about the connection between autism and gluten. I researched it a little bit, but honestly, I still don't feel knowledgeable enough to give any definitive answer. I can tell you that GI problems are much more prevalent in children with autism than in typical children, but as for a gluten-free diet "curing" autism, I really don't know much about it.

Anyways, the point of all this is that A LOT of the kids I work with are on either a Gluten-Free diet, a Dairy free diet or a Gluten AND Casein free diet. One of the moms and I were talking about gluten free food the other day and she asked if I was familiar with Polka Dot Bake Shop. I told her that I had never heard of it which surprised her because it's literally under 5 minutes from my house. She told me that they offered gluten free cupcakes every other Wednesdays! She happened to tell me this last Wednesday so I immediately called the bakery when I left her house to see if I was lucky enough to have discovered them on a GF Wednesday. Unfortunately, the guy that answered the phone told me that I'd have to wait until next Wednesday.

As I was driving home from work today, around 5:30, I realized it was Wednesday. I called Polka Dot to see what time they closed. The girl on the phone told me they closed at 6:00 but would let me in if I couldn't make it there by then. She chatted with me as I rushed through traffic (the fastest I've ever driven for cupcakes) and told me that they currently had chocolate cupcakes with either buttercream or chocolate frosting. I ordered 2 of each. She also informed me that they were giving away banana cupcakes that they were trying out. I told her to box me up some of those as well.

I made it there just at 6:00 and my cupcakes were sitting on a box on the counter with the banana cupcakes in a bag on top. The 4 cupcakes came to a little over $10.00 (a steal for gluten free cupcakes if you ask me). I couldn't wait until I got home so I bit into one of the banana cupcakes in the car -- it tasted just like banana bread! It wasn't crumbly and dry like other GF cupcakes I had tried - these were moist and delicious! I couldn't wait to get home and try one of the chocolate cupcakes.
I opened the box when I got home, and noticed that this girl was either terrible at counting, or a cupcake angel - she had included an extra chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. I tried my best to eat it slowly and savor it, but it was gone in a matter of seconds -- it was that delicious!

I absolutely recommend this bakery to any one gluten free or even not gluten free. Oh, and the best part is, they've had so many calls about GF cupcakes, that they've decided to offer them every Wednesday! Enjoy :)

More from Zada Janes

So I went ahead and e-mailed the owner of Zada Janes to find out more about their Gluten Free menu items and was happy to find out that there are more GF options other than the pancakes!

Rebecca,

Wow and thank you for the response and inquiries.
Actually, the g-free pancake are the "bready" item but we do carry Sami's millet & flax bread, which is 99% g-free. We ask folks whether they are celiac before serving Sami's.
Unfortunately we use flour tortillas for the Bunny Rancheros. However, you can sub the millet & flax bread for a .50 cent upcharge. I do believe our spinach wrap is g-free, but I will have to get back to you on that issue. Also, I don't think it works to good with the Bunny.

The eggs are hormone-free/cage free and we add nothing except a little vegetable oil to the pan for the omelets.
Ah the sweet potatoes! Ain't they dee-lish! We go thru a dang ton of them every week and we do it all right there in our precious and loverly little kitchen. I do not know exactly what you mean by thickeners so the only thing I can think of that you are suggesting... would be butter.

Most importantly we try to keep it simple and use l-o-v-e as the main ingredient in all that we do for you the customer.

I may need a little enlightening on the g-free issue as I thought gluten was mainly in bread products. Please let me know other products to look for it in and I will update you on what we offer that I may not know about so you can make your article more better.

Sincerely,
Roger
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I went there this morning for breakfast and although I didn't order the Sami's bread, I did get the sweet potato hashbrowns which are absolutely amazing! I was a little worried at first because when I asked to substitute of GF pancake the server told me they might be out of them... luckily they weren't:

I highly recommend checking this place out. I'll continue to post anything more I find out about gluten free items!