My two best friends in the area and I go out to dinner about once a week. One of them has recently decided to go gluten free. (Also dairy-free, but I know how to handle that) Tonight is our first dinner out since she's made the decision. I know the obvious answer to this is "make her choose the restaurant" but for the sake of argument, let's just assume that's not going to happen.
I know nothing about avoiding gluten. I even have a bag of gluten in my freezer I use when making bread sometimes. The gluten free registry website is just leading me to chain restaurants, which we try to avoid. I know I could google, but I don't have lots of time to do that today and I know that some of y'all here don't eat gluten and, well, SB has all the answers.
What do I look for on a menu to indicate gluten? I know bread and pasta, but what else? Where is it hiding? What things are gluten-free? (Meats and vegetables, yes?) Know any good non-chain gluten-friendly restaurants in the NC Capitol area?
I know she could probably find somthing to eat almost everywhere, but I want to find a place where she'll have many choices. And this is a challenge we'll have weekly.
Educate me, please.
ETA: sorry, that got long.