Burger on a Gluten-Free Bun

The Ninety Nine restaurants have started serving  delicious gluten-free buns to accompany their steakburgers. These buns are made from a mix of rice and tapioca flours and are free of dairy (contain eggs, soy and yeast) and are manufactured in a gluten, tree nut and peanut-free facility.

On our visit,  I was planning to order a salad, but as soon as the server mentioned that they now carry these buns I just had to give them a try. I’m so glad that I did.  The bun was warmed perfectly and not a bit crumbly.   Another surprise was to find that the fries (contain soy) were cooked in a dedicated fryer!  I dined at the Wilmington, MA location so if you plan to order the fries elsewhere, please make sure to ask if your location has a dedicated fryer. 

The Ninety Nine’s has had a gluten-free menu for sometime now as well as a great Allergen Info chart on their website (increase magnification of this chart for easy viewing).  This chart is helpful to find other allergens that may be lurking in items on the menu. For instance, the mashed potatoes, not surprisingly, contain milk but they also contain soy.

When looking at the chart , I noticed some items were gluten-free but not listed on the current gluten-free menu.  For example, the Chocolate Molten Lava Cake (contains soy, dairy, eggs)  is free of gluten but not available on the menu. My server did confirm that it was indeed gluten-free but she was not comfortable offering this to me because she wasn’t sure the staff had been properly trained about plating it and wanted to ensure minimal risk of contamination, which I appreciated. I contacted the corporate office for more information and they confirmed that the Chocolate Molten Lava Cake is gluten-free, however, it is processed in a facility that is not a dedicated gluten-free facility. When I inquired about the discrepancy between the items on the gluten-free menu and those items on the Allergen Info list that were free of gluten, I was told that these items are being reviewed in anticipation of a new and improved gluten-free menu to debut in the early fall of 2010.  And yes, the Chocolate Molten Lava Cake will be featured!

 Update:  The gluten-free menu now includes a child-sized burger with a gluten-free bun.

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