WORD OF CAUTION - Lucky 32 in Cary

I have received some emails about Lucky 32 in Cary offering a Gluten Free menu option. I had been to the location in Raleigh a few years ago before it closed and always liked the food so I decided to do a little digging.

The following is a warning about what I found out about Lucky 32's menu as well as information given to me by their Executive Chef, Jay Pierce.

If you have been to this restaurant in the past, you may have noticed something interesting about their menu. See the following webpage for yourself. Beside some of the menu choices are little GF logos. Somebody like myself automatically assumed that meant Gluten Free, right? WRONG. If you look down at the fine print you will see the following.

GF - Say "Guilt Free" and we'll modify the receipe to reduce sodium and fat. For other special dietary needs, please inform your server.

YIKES - as you can see from this, GF is not Gluten Free at Lucky 32. Once I saw this I contacted Jay to inquire further. I would hate for any people trying to order Gluten Free to be misled. Jay's prompt response is below...

From: Jay Pierce jpierce@qwrh.com
Date: Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 10:13 PM
Subject: RE: Gluten Free Question
To: GlutenFree Raleigh glutenfreeraleigh@gmail.com

Thank you so much for your email. We do train our staff to offer gluten-free options on menus, because we do have recipes on hand for everything that is made in house, and most things are. We will not call anything gluten free that contains wheat, soy sauce or mustard, which I learned from a celiac-centric web site causes problems for some folks but not all.

As for our GF designation, I will definitely run your suggestion up the ladder. I do know that the symbol you are referring to is a registered trademark that we have been using for quite a few years to designate items lower in sodium and fat.

Once again, thanks for your observations, and feel free to asks questions about menu items of our good folks there in Cary when dining in, or email me when planning a trip there; I’d love to help out.

Jay Pierce
Executive Chef
Lucky 32
1421 Westover Terrace
Greensboro, NC 27408
p: 336-370-0707
f: 336-574-0037
jpierce@qwrh.com
www.lucky32.com

So there you have it. As I always recommend, proceed with caution at ANY restaurant, even the ones that have GF all over their menu.