This is a short post to say "thank you" to one of the first restaurants where I felt a little less like I was rolling the dice with hope to avoid an anaphylactic reaction. Legal Sea Foods takes food allergies very seriously and it shows by the education of the servers/managers and the special food allergy protocols in their kitchens. My first dining experience at a Legal Sea Foods restaurant was actually in Washington, D.C and not in the Boston area where the family of restaurants originated. We went into the restaurant on a whim and at first I was very confused when they began asking additional questions about my allergies and the manager came to speak with me. This was almost 10 years ago. Long before any other restaurants were educating their staff or taking any precautions for food allergy sufferers.
Today, there are more restaurants that are food allergy aware, but most of them seem to be in the Boston area (perhaps due to the food allergy legislation in Massachusetts - see more on my Allergy Information page) or are large chain restaurants with national training and menus. Another brief shout-out to a chain of pizza restaurants who also take allergies very seriously: Jet's Pizza. They have just initiated an in-store protocol for preparing their new gluten-free pizzas and have been peanut/nut free for years - I know this because I my family has operated a couple of franchises over the years (so I could go on and on about how amazing the pizza is there, but I am clearly biased).
When in doubt and traveling, I usually search for a chain restaurant, quickly check to see if they have allergy/gluten-free menus, and eat there. Maybe it's only luck, but I have never had a reaction at a mid/high-end chain restaurant.
For all of us with allergies, bring your allergy list, hand it to a server, and be confident the kitchen and the manager will be working to ensure your food is allergy-free at Legal Sea Foods. From my somewhat frequent restaurant experiences, their staff is some of the most educated when it comes to food allergies and avoiding accidental exposure. It is one of the easiest places for me to eat and for that bit of convenience in my food-complicated life, I am so thankful!