When you get an invitation to dine at your friend’s house, what do you do? Do you let them cook for you, bring your own food, or decline the invitation. Oh wait, there’s one more option, and that is, to order out. Until now, I can honestly say that ordering out has been my least desired option. It’s so risky to know exactly what is happening to our food. But with more and more restaurants becoming allergy aware, and having a 2 year old to keep me busy, I have cautiously ventured out a little more than I have in the past. So I was excited to accept the invitation and we decided to try Sugarfire Smoke House.
People just rave about Sugarfire Smoke House and my friends are no exception. They absolutely love this place, but they are not gluten free.
When it comes to eating out with food allergies, there is so much to know. There is an extensive list of questions you must ask and there has to be a level of comfort you feel when those questions are being answered. I was so happy we chose to try Sugarfire.
About Sugarfire
I had pulled up the menu online which stated their hours of operation being open until sold-out, which totally make sense since the food is not really made to order. Their menu consists of smoked pulled pork, turkey, brisket, and salmon. I mean, how do you choose only one of these? They all sounded so delicious.
I did not see anything that specifically stated that it was gluten free, or a gluten free menu so I began to panic. Having little knowledge of gluten free options by my friend’s house, I was counting on Sugarfire to come through for us.
The call ahead
I took the time to call the day before we were going to try it. I made sure to call during non-peak dining hours so that I could get someone on the phone that wouldn’t mind spending a little time with me. The woman on the phone was very nice, welcoming and patient with my questions. She was wonderful.
As soon as I told her my family was gluten free, she went on to explain that all of their smoked meats were gluten free and so were their sauces. She read me the ingredients from the label of their signature rub which included: salt, paprika and other natural spices, sugar, dehydrated garlic and onion, and silicone dioxide to prevent caking. She went on to say they sell this “signature” rub in the restaurant for $5.
I stopped there. Being so thrilled we could have the meat, I didn’t want to take up much more of her time. I was tempted to ask her for an ingredients list for each sauce, because she again mentioned they were gluten free. She then also remembered I mentioned my son’s corn allergy and immediately told me they contained corn syrup. I decided that since we could have the smoked meat, I could bring my own buns and make sandwiches. That would be a huge win.
Doing all of this sight unseen was a huge leap of faith for me. Due to our nut allergy, I also had to ask about the nuts they put in their salads and they assured me the salads were made no where near the meat. I also inquired about their fryer, hoping they had a dedicated fry fryer. But unfortunately, it is also shared with hush puppies and some kind of artichoke.
What impressed me the most about this conversation and this woman, was the fact that she asked me if I would like the cooks to change their gloves when wrapping my turkey. Um YES PLEASE!!!! And thank you! Her attention to detail was amazing and so appreciated.
My experience
My recommendation when you are ready to order is to call early. You call, tell them when you want your food delivered or ready for pick up and that’s it. However, if you call too late you run the risk of eating later than you want to because they cannot get it put together in time. This place is super busy and they have a very small delivery service. We were not able to get an early enough delivery time, so we had to choose pick up.
The food all came very well and individually wrapped. They did a great job getting the order exactly as we discussed on the phone. I ordered one pound of the smoked turkey for me and the boys and brought my own buns and dairy free cheese. We ate sandwiches that were absolutely delicious.
I am so thankful to have places like Sugarfire Smoke House to feed my family. We have been there twice since and will definitely be going back.
One of the increased benefits of creating this blog, is that it is giving me the courage to dine out. That increased courage, having 2 kids to keep up with, and the fact that my son is outgrowing some of his allergies is changing my mom life. I so am thankful for all of these.
I hope you try Sugarfire Smoke House and enjoy it as much as we did!
Sugarfire Smoke House also offers hamburgers that are grilled but are not recommended for a gluten free diet. The photo used for this post was taken directly from the Sugarfire Smoke House website.
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Do you have a gluten free menu? And if so what is it?
They do not have a separate gluten free menu. Their rubs are gluten free and they take great care in changing gloves and wrapping food separately. I usually order just the smoked meats. I love the turkey and brisket. Then I come home and make my own sandwich on gluten free bread. I hope this helps.