Chop it up Baby!

So being an old (careful now) Moxie girl, I knew that Chop might be a good GF choice. The two are in the same family of restaurants and that usually bodes well for me. So I was fairly confident when I walked in their Chinook location with my two best gals last night for an early birthday celebration that I would not get poisoned. I should not have set my bar so low for I was truly blown away by the level of service we received. So we stroll in; three thirty something moms, one pregnant and I am the only one who orders a glass of wine. We already scream ‘pain in the ass for a low tip’ table but the server was more than accommodating. I immediately tell her that I have Celiacs. She asks if it is severe and when in unison we reply ‘yes’ it was an all stop kind of situation. Her manager Ian comes over and spends the next hour dazzling the hell out of us.

            We asked to share an appetizer plate.  Again, it was like we were trying to piss them off and yet they could not have been more thrilled to serve us. Some of the things on the platter I could eat and some I couldn’t. So Ian and his chef have to go through the ingredients on all these different items and check and double check them against each other. Ian came back to our table twice to double check with me in the preparation of an item to see if that would cause a problem. He then apologizes to US for disturbing us! Seriously, I was deeply in love with this guy by now and would have put him in my pocket if he would have fit. Bother us? Please! So the dish comes out, all on separate plates, mine run by Manager Ian and it’s all gorgeous. The gals tried to tell me that the cheese bread was disgusting but since the preggo one ate it like the baby’s life depended on it, I called bullshit. But really, I didn’t miss it that much. The peas and the shrimp that I could have were fresh and delicious and beautifully presented. We could not have been more thrilled.

Then, to make things even better, the server comes by and the following conversation ensues,

           Pretty blond girl server, “We have Gluten Free desserts.”

            Short brunette lady blogger, “Don’t toy with me. Is it chocolate?”

            Pretty blond girl getting slimmer by the second, “Yes, it’s our…..”

            Short brunette lady about to get larger, “Sold, don’t tell me, just bring it.”

And this is what that doll of a human brought me. The Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake! Unreal! One of the best restaurant desserts I have ever had. We devoured it in an embarrassing way and it was delightful.

Ian came by again to make sure that we were doing well. He told me about the extensive charts they have for servers to make sure that no allergen is missed. He told us about Chop’s baker and their butcher and how everything is fresh, made in house, with the best ingredients. He listed off all the things I could have on the next visit, including more desserts. Chop doesn’t’ have a written gluten free menu and I really don’t think it needs one. Instead, it has knowledgeable, passionate staff that care as much about what goes in my body as I do. They went above and beyond and I could not have been more thrilled. We weren’t a “money table”, not by any stretch and yet the team at Chop made this gluten free gal feel mighty special.

Happy GF Birthday to me.

 I’ll be back to get Chopped, and you should too.