After my daughter spent the afternoon in urgent care because of a severe allergic reaction after eating a seemingly innocent club sandwitch from a chain restaurant, we're in search of "clean food" restaurants - places that avoid using flavor enhancers or flavor-enhanced ingredients in their food prep. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

We frequently visit OKC and would like to enjoy eating out while there, as opposed to packing PB&J and a thermos of milk.

Thanks!

Off the top of my head, Matthew Kenney, CoolGreens, or Green Goodies by Tiffany. You could even get things to eat at Whole Foods (pizza, sandwiches, salad bar, pastries) and eat out on the patio.

sorry to hear about that, cali mentioned possibly going to whole foods but i cant think of any other places of the top of my head that would be potentially 'clean'. if i was in your shoes i would just brown bag it instead of having your daughter end up at urgent care...

If you mean flavor enhancers like MSG, I know that Panda Express uses no MSG.

Green and Grilled, NW Expressway and Rockwell in Rockwell Plaza.

It must be very difficult to attempt to deal effectively with food sensitivities such as this. On both sides of the equation. Would a "Clean" restaurant mean something along the lines of a "Neo-Kosher" place? Is it just chemical additives that create the imperfection? What if someone on the kitchen staff liked salted peanuts? I've heard some folks have serious reactions to shrimp and other seafood . . . This is a tough question. There's "clean" and then there is "Clean" . . .

Just out of curiousity, what ingredient in a well-made Club Sandwich would cause such a reaction?
I know that "gluten intolerance" can be an issue for some folks, but surely it wasn't something in the bread . . .?

It must be very difficult to attempt to deal effectively with food sensitivities such as this. On both sides of the equation. Would a "Clean" restaurant mean something along the lines of a "Neo-Kosher" place? Is it just chemical additives that create the imperfection? What if someone on the kitchen staff liked salted peanuts? I've heard some folks have serious reactions to shrimp and other seafood . . . This is a tough question. There's "clean" and then there is "Clean" . . .
Just out of curiousity, what ingredient in a well-made Club Sandwich would cause such a reaction?
I know that "gluten intolerance" can be an issue for some folks, but surely it wasn't something in the bread . . .?Ope ope.... you forgot "CLEAN"

It must be very difficult to attempt to deal effectively with food sensitivities such as this. On both sides of the equation. Would a "Clean" restaurant mean something along the lines of a "Neo-Kosher" place? Is it just chemical additives that create the imperfection? What if someone on the kitchen staff liked salted peanuts? I've heard some folks have serious reactions to shrimp and other seafood . . . This is a tough question. There's "clean" and then there is "Clean" . . .

Just out of curiousity, what ingredient in a well-made Club Sandwich would cause such a reaction?
I know that "gluten intolerance" can be an issue for some folks, but surely it wasn't something in the bread . . .?

Preservatives in the sandwich meat, maybe?

Could just be a new allergy to a common ingredient. My youngest and my lovely learned he could no longer consume pineapple in his 9th summer, during a somewhat harrowing trip to pick up my eldest from her summer camp job.

"pineapple" . . . dang. (on the other hand, my wife can't tolerate anything with cinnamon in it. the other day i was thinking about getting a tube of those "orange sweet rolls" at the grocery store and even THOSE were laced with "Cinnabon Cinnamon". go figure . . .)

I've had good luck at Cool Greens. They have California style salads, pita wraps, and pizzas. In general though OKC still has a long ways to go to catch up with other major cities when it comes to food staff knowledge of allergens, limiting cross-contamination in the kitchen, and so on.