The kind folks over at Triumph Dining recently sent me a copy of the 5th edition of their annual Essential Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide to review. The timing was appropriate, since it was almost exactly one year ago, on December 8, 2009, that I reviewed the 3rd edition of their annual Essential Gluten-Free Grocery Guide. As with that review, there were some things I liked, and some that I didn’t.
Let’s start with some of the obvious positives: This edition of the guide includes more than 6,500 restaurants, including over 120 chain/franchise restaurants. What’s more, Triumph updates the information on every entry, every year. That’s a monumental undertaking, and one to their great credit, given how fast things change and the need to stay current in the gluten-free world.
In terms of evaluating this edition of the guide, I gave it a thorough critique in two primary categories: content, and organization. In doing so, I focused on two areas of the country where I know restaurants pretty well – Colorado and New York. For each state, Triumph lists restaurants under sub-headings for some of the major metropolitan areas, and then lists everything else in the state under a catch-all “all other cities.” For example, Colorado has entries for Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, and all other. New York has entries for Manhattan, Rochester, and all other.
Organization
Admittedly, the task of deciding how to organize so much information in a way that’s straightforward for the user is a difficult thing. Do you list by restaurant name? City? Region? Triumph, as I noted, chose to go the route of major metropolitan areas, plus a catch-all for the rest of the state. In the context of a printed book, I suppose that’s as good as any other format. Even so, I caught some red flags. New York is a prime example.
New York lists just two major metro areas: Manhattan and…Rochester? What about other areas much more populated (with both people and gluten-free restaurants) than comparatively tiny Rochester? Consider this: There are roughly 75 entries for Manhattan, and 16 for Rochester. I went through the “all other cities” category, and found more than 35 entries for the Hudson Valley, about another 35 for Westchester, and more than 45 entries for Long Island. Wouldn’t it make sense to break out these regions into their own sub-headings? In addition, Brooklyn restaurants were listed under “all other.” Why not fold Brooklyn, Manhattan and the other boroughs into one, single, sensible “New York City” sub-heading?
This “problem” could easily be fixed in a future edition of the guide, and I hope the folks at Triumph do so. The exact same information, presented with an improved organization, would do great things for the book’s value and ease of use.
Alas, I fear the bigger problem – from an organization stand-point – is that this type of information (a nationwide guide of gluten-free restaurants) is better suited to the electronic format than it is to print. Imagine being able to instantly sort entries by restaurant name, state, city, or region. To search by zip code, and confine your search to a given radius. To search by type of cuisine (American, Japanese, Mexican, etc.). This type of functionality would, again, make the same information, presented in a different format with better organization, that much more powerful.
Content
In terms of content, I also have concerns. As I went through the listings for Colorado and New York, I asked myself two things: Are my favorite gluten-free restaurants listed? And for towns I know well, does the guide list restaurants I’m not already familiar with?
In the cases of both Colorado and New York, I found numerous omissions. For example, Cathryn’s Tuscan Grill in Cold Spring, NY is absent. The listings for Ithaca, NY include just two restaurants, while I’m personally aware of at least eight. The situation is much the same in Colorado. Boulder’s entry, while pretty good, is missing BeauJo’s (gluten-free pizza), Hapa (gluten-free sushi), Turley’s (gluten-free diner), and Restaurant 4580 (gluten-free New American). In Colorado’s “all other cities” category, Larkburger (gluten-free burger and fries) is a glaring oversight.
Granted, Triumph has a near impossible task before it…to comprehensively list gluten-free restaurant options across the United States. But to see so many omissions of restaurants I know (and love) is disappointing. On the other hand, to look at the bright side, those of us in the gluten-free community can see these omissions as signs that there are many more gluten-free restaurants out there than we might think or know about. And that’s good news.
And for what it’s worth, I did make some new discoveries in Triumph’s guide. For example, I learned that Massapequa, NY – one town over from my hometown of Farmingdale, where my mother still lives – has both a gluten-free bakery and a pizzeria. Who knew? (I certainly didn’t, but Triumph did…)
Conclusion
In the end, I suppose the two questions you’ll most want to know the answers to are these: Would I use this guide? And is it worth the $24.95 price tag for you to buy it?
For areas with which I’m already familiar, no, I wouldn’t use the guide. Once you get dialed into a gluten-free dining scene, you’re dialed in. The guide’s not really going to help you there. But for unfamiliar locales, such as when you’re traveling, the guide is a great resource for finding safe places to eat. (I can definitely see us using it to explore our new town and surrounding communities here in the Hudson Valley…) Improved organization of the print guide, with more accessible information, would make it even better.
As for whether you should buy it, my conclusion is that, yes you should. It’s a no brainer. The $24.95 price tag is basically the cost of one entree at your average white tablecloth restaurant. If you only find one restaurant to visit in the entire guide, and have a wonderful dining experience there, then it has basically paid for itself in value to you.
– Pete
Thanks for the review! I think next year, if we do any traveling, I will look into this book.
I agree with you, an online format would be much better organized, and more easily accessible to those of us constantly online (phone book, what?).
Honestly, I’d love to check out my current city of residence, because there are only a handful of places I know of that are accommodating (that both husband and I enjoy eating at). Maybe I’ll add this to my last minute christmas list 🙂
Still fine-tuning a massive project, it seems like Triumph’s getting better with each edition of this great product.
While this would certainly be a time-consuming undertaking, if there were a way to make somethign like this a searchable Droid app, I would jump all over it. I will probably buy it, too. But for someone like me who travels a lot (I’m an academic) and has to go to lots of conferences, electronic copy with searchability would be FAR more convenient. And then I don’t have to log a big book or kill trees with photocopies…
Hi Stephanie… Yes, it does get better with each iteration. And it’s worth saying more explicitly (though I hope I implied as much in the blog post), that Triumph does great work both within the GF community, and on behalf of the GF community.
For Provo, UT, the guide lists: Bombay House, Tucanos Brazilian Grill, and Winger’s Grill and Bar. Is there another town I should be checking? Or neighboring towns you’ll like me to include in the list in addition to Provo? Just let me know!
Hi Claudette… Agreed. An electronic version of this guide would be phenomenal.
Cheers, Pete
Hmm, good to know. Tucanos is our favorite restaurant, I’ve eaten at Wingers a time or two, but never been to Bombay House. Heard a rumor they did gluten free though…excellent! Now just gotta convince my husband he likes Indian food!
How about Orem or American Fork? 🙂
I’m going to guess that Hawai’i doesn’t have much listed in it, especially Maui County. If there’s actually good listings for here (other than Outback) I may have to get myself a copy or recommend it to others on my blog.
Hey Stephanie… In Orem you’ve also got Carrabba’s, Old Spaghetti Factory, Outback, and PF Chang’s. In American Fork, Rodizio. (There’s also Wingers in both cities…) Hope this helped (but not sure it did)!
Hey Amanda… The Hawaii section isn’t listed by island (grr), just by city, which makes it a challenge for someone like me, who isn’t instantly familiar with what towns are on what islands. But glancing at a map of Maui, and checking against the listings, I potentially see: Down to Earth, Flatbread Pizza Company, Lahaina Coolers, Lahaina Grill, The Melting Pot, Merriman’s, Outback, Penne Pasta Cafe, and Roy’s. The degree of GF offerings sounded like it varied wildly among those places, but perhaps there’s a listing there with which you’re not already familiar.
Cheers, Pete