Recently, both my son, Morgan, and I have had interesting issues eating out at restaurants.

I have been diagnosed with an eosinophilic disorder, which means that I make my own safe food and bring that to a restaurant when meeting friends. It would be wonderful to be able to eat food prepared by a chef, but currently that isn’t yet a possibility. I eat only organic foods, and I eat just 4 foods currently. It’s certainly not where I hope to be forever, but for now, it’s what my reality is.

My husband and I met friends in Denver, CO at the Vesta Dipping Grill expecting a wonderful dining experience for the three of them ordering food. Their expectations were met; mine however was a little different. While the restaurant claims to be very accommodating to allergies, the assistant manager was less than thrilled with me bringing my own food. In fact, after everyone else’s food was served, he marched over to the table to tell me I was breaking the law! When he commented that if I brought in the food because of a medical condition that would be different. This is when my husband stepped in (I was crawling under the table at this point), and informed him that  yes, it was a medical condition. At that point the manager told me that the next time I come in, I will need a doctor’s note to bring in my own food. This entire interaction took less than 5 minutes, and I was mortified.

I have been bringing my own food into restaurants for literally the last 9 years. This is the first time I’ve had any restaurant employee even make a comment about the food, much less tell me that I’m a law breaker!

I’ve searched high and low through all of Colorado’s Retail Food Establishment Rules and can find nothing that states, “no outside food allowed” in Colorado restaurants.

The more interesting part of this story is that when I shared it with my son, Morgan, he told me about his experience with the same restaurant. He and a friend ate there a few months ago thinking they would be great with his peanut, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish allergies with their 8 different allergy menus.  Instead, his food was served with a dipping sauce filled with sesame seeds. This was after he meticulously discussed his food allergies and gave his Chef Card to the waiter. He is thankfully very careful about checking his food order when he receives it, and he noticed that his food was not safe.  He said he will NEVER eat there again because of this mistake!

Moral of the story – don’t trust a restaurant automatically that says they are allergy aware! Always check your food before taking a bite, and of course always carry your epinephrine.

Update and Follow Up:

My husband, Robert, wrote an email to the owner of Vesta Dipping Grill, Josh Wolkon, explaining our disappointment and embarrassment with our dining experience. Josh followed up with a personal conversation with Robert outlining what they’ve done to change the dining experience for customers like myself who have to bring in food. They utilized our experience for a 2 hour training of all his restaurant employees in his 4 restaurants, and have developed a written, detailed plan for managing outside food brought in because of allergies.

My husband also explained our son’s experience with the sesame seed in the dipping sauce. Josh was very disappointed in this major mistake, and said that this too will be utilized to better train his employees of the seriousness of food allergies.

I’m very impressed that the owner of the restaurant would take his time to speak with my husband, AND to train his employees further. Additionally, we’ve been promised a gift certificate for a future dining experience, which I’m sure will be pleasurable!