Breakfast is the worst, but lunch on the go is pretty bad too. It's one thing if you can prepare food in advance (and I will go over some ridiculously simple, sloth-like options at some point). A lot of times, you can't. You also can't have a steak every day and simple sandwich and pizza options are out since there is no Subway/Quiznos/Joe's Local Sandwich Place that is far Better than Subway or Quiznos gluten free buns (most of the time. I know of a few exceptions that I'll eventually mention). So we have to scramble for options.
Noodles and Company is a pretty good option. There are some very local places and chains I'll mention but Noodles is spread out across the country. I'm not saying that you'll definitely have one near you but you might, and if you do, it's worth checking out. I had gone a couple of times before being diagnosed and had never been wildly wowed, but it's a moving scale. It really is. Things that wouldn't have excited us before are suddenly seen in a new light. That desperation of being out and looking for a place to find something that you didn't eat four times in the last two weeks or that doesn't cost a mint can lead to a very specific desperation: it'll make you check out a place that you had previously dismissed.
That was the case here. We have one by the house that I've checked out before, but near Farragut Square here in DC (which is the home to the legions of Food Trucks, always a bit of a frustrating walk by) another had just opened up. I was in the area to check out a pop-up used book store for charity: http://www.turningthepage.org/ which I think is reopening permanently a block away this week. I saw that it had opened up and decided to peek my head in and see if they had any new GF options. Sometimes you just have to stick your head out whether it be to double back onto the internet or just walk in.
Lo and behold, they had just introduced one. There was always the option of rice noodles as a substitution for a lot of their items, and you can add various of their meats without much problem, but they'd just put on the menu a gf-fusili pasta too. Anyone who's been gluten-free for a while knows a thing or two about gf pasta, the "or two" being that it's almost universally terrible, breaks apart, flakes and is ultimately unsatisfying (and a lot worse when you reheat it). I'm sure someone's cracked the code and has come up with some way to prepare it that makes it more tolerable, but this probably isn't the blog for that. I've found some good brands, and will write those up later, but in general, not good.
The gf fusili here, though, IS pretty good. It has a broader, thicker texture than usual. I tend to have it as a replacement for the buttered noodles and I'll add in the steak. It's always a bit of a crapshoot when you tell someone at a counter joint that you're gf. Sometimes it matters, sometimes it's just a headache. Here, my experience has been that it matters. They'll give you a special allergy menu, have a manager ring it in specially and will take care in making it in dedicated cookware. Depending on who the cashier is, you may be charged extra and you may not. I've been told that it the substitution shouldn't be extra, but it really does depend. The prices are pretty reasonable to begin with, though. You can usually get out with the pasta/meat and a drink for around $10, and if you go for a smaller size, it'll be less than that. The drink is worth getting as they have one of those giant robotic coke machines where you can mix dozens of flavors. My gut (both figuratively and literally) tells me that the mixing of the sodas isn't a problem for us, but I've never read anything one way or another about adding rasberry powerade to your coke zero being an issue.
I'm pretty sure there are a lot more adventurous options but I'm not an adventurous guy. I'll doubleback at some point and post a picture (next time I get it), and thus delete this line, but for now, below is their gluten guide. It's not an everyday choice but for once every week or two it's a perfectly viable lunch or dinner option, especially on the go.
Noodles and Company Gluten Guide
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