How To Eat Paleo At Restaurants

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Sep 15

How To Eat Paleo At Restaurants via Worthy Pause

If you've read this blog for any length of time (or you know me personally), you'll know that I don't eat paleo all the time.

I still cook lots of paleo things at home (plus or minus some dairy products, rice and occasional entire boxes of mac and cheese), but I currently eat everything. However, there have been many stints in my adult life where I've gone full-blown paleo and I've learned a lot about dining out.

The great thing is that eating paleo at restaurants is so much easier than it was a few years ago and menus tend to be a lot more clearly labeled, but it still involves some extra preparation and communication.

I thought it might be nice to share some tips if you're new to the paleo world or prepping for a Whole30—hope you find these helpful!

P.S. At the end I added some of my favorite paleo-friendly and gluten-free restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul for my local pals.

Do your research

Check the website. Check Yelp. Look at the menu online and scan for words like "roasted," "broiled," "grilled" and "sautéed." Those are the most likely areas to find something paleo, though you may want to ask about spice rubs and marinades to check on sneaky sugar, soy and cooking oils. Avoid the words "creamy" and "crispy." There's nothing for you there, sorry.

If you can’t find anything on the menu that you’re sure about, call and ask all the annoying questions before you get there so you don't have to be that person when you get there. The best time to call with annoying questions is when the restaurant won't be busy, like 3 pm. Do not call them at 7 pm on a Friday and expect a patient person to patiently answer your questions.

Be respectful, seriously

When you do have to be that person, be gracious to the staff and the chef — ask nicely and don't reach too far outside the existing menu if you can help it. You're not in your own kitchen and shouldn't make up your own dish out of nowhere and expect them to cook it. It is absolutely possible to go out of bounds and be the worst customer ever.

Things that are reasonable:

ordering all the things that go inside the burrito without the tortilla

substituting one side dish for another

ordering a salad with lemon and olive oil on the side instead of the prescribed dressing

asking if they can fry an egg in olive oil instead of butter

Things that are unreasonable:

asking the chef to make zoodles for you instead of pasta

bringing your own food to a restaurant (unless maybe it’s it’s a tiny jar of salad dressing or something)

asking someone to make special olive oil-only mayo for your lobster salad (though I did have a chef offer to do this during my first Whole30 and it almost made me cry, it was so outrageously kind!)

What to order at American-ish Restaurants

Protein + vegetables

Roast chicken and fennel (hold the creamy sauce)? Yep. Poached salmon and asparagus? Yum. Steak and grilled vegetables? Treat yourself! Raw oysters and a giant salad? Uh, sure... I guess so, if that is appealing to you. Generally, this formula of protein + vegetables is relatively easy to find in most restaurants these days.

Burgers, no buns

I really hate when I have to order this, honestly. It's usually such a sad, lonely puck of meat there on the plate. But burgers without the buns are usually paleo-friendly and, hey, it's food... sometimes it's the best you're going to do. Depending on how strict you are, you will likely want to substitute a side salad or another paleo-friendly side for the fries. Ketchup (which is pointless anyway — don't argue with me, it's the worst) is also out because it's all sugar. Mustard's usually okay though.

Salads

Ask about cheese, croutons and dressings. If the dressing isn’t compliant, just order the salad with lemon and olive oil. If there's protein on top, check to see how it's prepared or ask to substitute grilled something-or-other.

Breakfast + Brunch

Eggs are kinda sneaky sometimes, but breakfast is one of the areas of the menu I like best for easier paleo options. Poached eggs will always be A-OK since they are made with water. Fried eggs are great too if you request that they are cooked with olive oil instead of butter or canola oil. Scrambled eggs and omelets often have some dairy (or even flour, weirdly!) in them to make them extra fluffy (some restaurants may even use that giant Sysco bag of liquid eggs), so it's best to about those before you order. If you can request olive oil, hash browns and breakfast potatoes might be ok. Hashes are also a good bet. At my work cafeteria they do made-to-order breakfast and I always request breakfast potatoes with veggies with a fried egg on top.

Avoid eye contact with quiches, bennies, pastries, pancakes and waffles.

Paleo Tips for Global Cuisine

90% of the time, I'm not eating a bun-less burger or a fancy steak dinner — I'm eating kebabs or green curry.

In my experience, the easiest restaurants to find paleo-friendly fare are Middle Eastern, South American, Greek, Mexican, Japanese, Thai and Indian. I also manage pretty well at Vietnamese restaurants, but the hardest are probably Italian, Korean, Filipino and Chinese. As in, just forget Chinese takeout and start mourning the xiao long bao now. CRYING FACE EMOJI.

Middle Eastern + Greek

If you're choosing the restaurant, a Greek, Iranian, Israeli or Lebanese restaurant will likely have so many more options for you than a pizza place. Shish kebabs, baba ghanoush, grilled vegetables, lamb shawarma, roast meats of all kinds, olives, salads, even creamy avoglemono (Greek egg-lemon sauce or soup) is often paleo... YES. Tahini-based sauces and dressings are usually fine, as are simple vinaigrettes. There's typically SO much paleo stuff to eat without changing anything, yay! Not everything though: Most commercial gyro meat is from the same company and has breadcrumbs in it, but you can always ask about it and hope for homemade. Toum garlic sauce at a restaurant will most likely be made with canola oil. Avoid the sides of rice, cheese and hummus, of course. Grape leaves are out too, unless you make them yourself.

Mexican

Meats! If they are prepared traditionally, almost all the Mexican meats will be paleo-friendly (carne asada, carnitas, al pastor, tinga, etc.) so you can go nuts and order them with a side of vegetables or on top of a big pile of lettuce. Fajitas are also usually great without the accoutrements. Rice, beans, tortillas, chips and tamales are out. Fresh pico de gallo and a lot of salsas are in(even certain mole sauces like mole verde can be naturally paleo), but you'll want to ask just to confirm. And if you're at a certain burrito store named Chipotle, you can safely order a carnitas salad with fajita veggies, pico de gallo, salsa verde, the hot salsa and guacamole. I also hacked the Chipotle carnitas recipe for the slow cooker if you want to try it at home.

South American

South American food is fairly easy to navigate with a paleo plan. Argentina will hook you up with steaks and chimichurri, so that's an easy one. Brazil also loves their grilled meats so you'll likely find some paleo-friendly foods without substitutions. At Peruvian restaurants, you'll want to focus on things like ceviche, rotisserie chicken and plantains. Ecuadorian food is also paleo-ish already with encebollado (Ecuadorian fish stew), hornado (roast pork), plantains and aji criollo (green hot sauce). You'll want to avoid fried foods, rice, beans, llapingachos (cheese-filled potato pancakes) and empanadas.

Thai

Thai is awesome because there are a lot of naturally gluten-free dishes, but the main things to watch out for are added sugar, soy and peanuts. You will certainly want to ask questions to confirm the ingredients. Safest bets are usually curries, tom kha, salads, lettuce wraps (watch out for rice flour in the larb though) and satay sans peanut sauce. Our favorite Thai restaurant in San Diego used to have this awesome marinated steak salad that was paleo without any substitutions, and sometimes you'll find a really nice grilled fish on the menu, but just be aware of the secret sugar sometimes hiding in fish sauce and marinades and whatnot.

Vietnamese

It's very unlikely for your favorite pho broth to be 100% paleo. There is likely a trace of hoisin sauce (soy) and fish sauce (sugar) in there, but I don't lose too much sleep over it. My standing order at Quang, Pho Tau Bay and Trieu Chau is the pho tai (beef pho) with vegetables instead of noodles. I honestly don't miss the noodles at all. Depending on the marinades, things like lemongrass shrimp and lemongrass pork chops might be okay too. The dressings usually have sugar in them though. You'll want to ask to make sure there's no flour or cornstarch added to thicken it, but Vietnamese curry beef stew is sometimes paleo too.

Barbecue

Depending on the type of global or regional BBQ you're dealing with, you will either find lots of things to eat or very few. As a rule, red BBQ sauces are almost never paleo no matter where you're eating, but the meats and some of the sides like collard greens might be A-OK.

Italian

The land of pizza and pasta is not a place I like to visit when I'm on the paleo train, just to avoid temptation. Good pizza is my kryptonite. However, a big salad or an antipasto platter is a good way to go if those options are available.

Indian

Indian is easy-ish, but you'll still have to ask questions because dairy is hiding around every corner. Normally I'd be all, GRILLED MEATS, but the unfortunate thing if you are being very strict is that some tandoori meats are going to be marinated in yogurt. There are a lot of curries and vegetarian dishes that will be just fine though. Vindaloo is a safe curry because it doesn't have any dairy, and other tomato-based curries (often listed as regular "masala") are solid as long as there's typically no cream added. Words to avoid: korma, makhani, tikka masala, josh, paneer, dal, channa. Ghee is okay. Even though it's dairy, it's dairy without all the milk solids.

Japanese

Sushi is easy, but you always have to order something custom. I like to eat at at the sushi bar so I can talk to the chef directly — they are often used to special requests and excited about creating new things. After asking about dressings, I usually will order a cucumber salad or a seaweed salad with some sashimi or tataki. Or I'll do a rice-less maki or hand roll with whatever sauce they might have that's paleo (if they have anything). Sometimes (if it's not busy) I'll just ask the chef to create something awesome without rice, mayo or soy sauce. If you can’t stand the thought of eating sushi without soy sauce, you could bring a small container of coconut aminos with you. Soups and other Japanese dishes are not always as easy to navigate without questions, but the great thing about Japanese food is that it's often very simply prepared so that makes paleo adjustments a little easier. Some yakitori and dashi-based dishes are paleo-friendly. Words to avoid: tempura, tofu, miso, soy, mayo, ramen, soba, udon.

Filipino

Filipino food isn't easy at all, which is the worst because I’m surrounded by it and it is so delicious (exhibit A: Filipino Chicken Adobo). There's a lot of soy sauce, sugar and rice involved in most of the dishes my in-laws cook on a regular basis. Some paleo-friendly dishes include lechon (whole roasted pig), kaldereta (goat stew), kinilaw (kind of like ceviche, but with vinegar) and some of the coconut milk-based stews.

Chinese

Chinese is really hard, you guys. It's unlikely that you'll find anything that's 100% paleo in a Chinese restaurant unless it's plain steamed vegetables. Even if something sounds paleo on a Chinese menu, you'll definitely want to ask about the preparation of each dish since there's a chance you'll find some added soy or sugar or flour or cornstarch you might not expect. You can totally make great paleo Chinese food at home though, and I have quite a few recipes on the site. Potsticker meatballs, Dongbei-style chicken thighs, five-spice pork chops, etc.

Korean

It can also be very hard to find paleo options at Korean restaurants (maybe even harder than Chinese), but not necessarily impossible. Some of the BBQ meats might be okay, depending on the marinades and sauces. Some of the banchan (the little side dishes) also might be okay, and you could always make a meal of that if you’re desperate. Most of the typical Korean dishes like bulgogi, bibimbap, soondobu, etc. will be out of reach though.

Fast Food

Fast food is also difficult to eat strictly paleo, but it's not impossible on a road trip or an airport where you might not have alternatives. As I mentioned earlier, Chipotle is the easiest fast food place (carnitas salad with fajita veggies, pico de gallo, salsa and guacamole). I hacked the Chipotle carnitas recipe for the slow cooker if you want to try it at home.

Oddly enough, Noodles & Company rolled out zucchini noodles so it’s very easy to find something to eat there. At In-N-Out, you can order your burger "protein-style," wrapped in lettuce (get it "mustard-grilled" with onions, but hold the other condiments). I used to do that regularly when we lived in California. Panera has very adaptable salads, but also I've heard they have a secret paleo menu with some lettuce wraps and power bowls.

And then places like McDonalds or Wendys will have salads but they might wind up being dry and super unsatisfying with the customizations needed to make them paleo.

Paleo-Friendly Restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul

For my local friends, here are some easy-ish restaurants to eat paleo.

Brasa (Northeast, Minneapolis + Summit Hill, St. Paul): I eat here often and usually get the pulled pork, collard greens and plantains. It's nice to be able to order something straight off the menu, huh?
My pho spots! Quang, Pho Tau Bay (both Eat Street, Minneapolis) and Trieu Chau (Midway, St. Paul): I should caveat this one by saying I have never confirmed that any of the broths are 100% paleo so this might be more paleo-ish. I always order pho tai (sliced beef pho) with vegetables instead of noodles. Sometimes they charge a little extra but that seems fair.
Filfilah (Columbia Heights): I also eat here all the time. There's a whole mess of shawarma and kebabs to be had, and all the entrees come with their super-delicious Greek salad (hold the cheese). Roasted potatoes are an option instead of rice, so that's easy. Tell them not to bring the puffy Turkish bread out though, because it's way too good to resist when it's right there within arm's reach.
Foxy Falafel (St. Anthony Park, St. Paul): Foxy is explicitly paleo-friendly. They have paleo specials on rotation all the time, so even though you can't have their signature falafel, they always have something delicious on deck.
Young Joni (Northeast, Minneapolis): Pizza's out, but some of the sides, salads and grilled things are in.
Smack Shack (North Loop, Minneapolis): Shramps, lobsters, yeah.
Black Sheep Pizza (North Loop + Eat Street, Minneapolis + Downtown, St. Paul): Oddly, I've had really good paleo meals at this pizza place. They have a solid grill menu as well as a very tasty roasted veggie salad.
World Street Kitchen (Lynlake, Minneapolis): Their gluten-free dishes are clearly marked, so you can easily narrow it down when you ask them questions about other ingredients.
Mill Valley Kitchen (St. Louis Park): I haven't eaten there in forever... but I should really go back, it was great! Their menu is labeled well and health-consciousness is built into their concept. It's really easy to navigate and they are totally open to swapping sides to accommodate dietary needs.
Agra Culture (lots of locations): Agra also has a well-labeled menu (P for paleo!) that includes a ton of options without needing to make substitutions.
Burch (Lowry Hill, Minneapolis): Steaks! Sides! $$$plurge! Even if I'm not in the mood for steak, I love the roasted broccolini and the raw section of the menu (marlin crudo, etc).