Before we we were diagnosed with being gluten and soy sensitive, we enjoyed many a meal at Les Chefs de France. Unfortunately, this most recent experience in September 2011 was the worst allergy experience I have ever had on WDW Property.

The chef was less-than-happy to come out to talk to us about our needs. He turned his nose up to our allergies and said “well, I’ll just make you a plate of sauteed vegetables”. Ok, that sounds great, we love vegetables!! The waitress brought out some Ener-G rolls, hot and wonderful, with real butter. They tied us over until we got our meal. What we were served was a blob of spinach, half of a boiled peeled potato, half of a boiled tomato, and some green beans. No salt, no pepper, no oil, no nothing. And we were charged almost $20 per person for this.

Unfortunately, we will not be going back, and I’m saddened to say that I have heard others with equally bad allergy experiences at this restaurant. I called Disney and complained about our experience, and the Cast Member I talked to couldn’t believe it, and apologized for our poor experience, but was grateful that I took the time to share my concerns.

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Chefs de France is a wonderful French restaurant located in Epcot. It can be very difficult to get reservations, and there may be a slight wait, but it’s worth the effort. As a non-Disney owned restaurant, or “operating partner”, we were a bit skeptical about dining with a food allergy. However, the Chef and staff were fantastic.

Chef Laurent came to our table and asked about our daughter’s allergy, and gave us our options. We were shock that there were so many for her that were dairy free.

First of all, she enjoyed her first French baguette in a restaurant. He reassured us that it was made on site without dairy. She would have been thrilled with that alone! But, she ordered a romaine hearts salad with a dressing, that I made at the table, of olive oil, pepper, salt, garlic , mustard and vinegar. They were very accommodating and brought ingredients we requested to make our own dressing.

She had the demi poulet fermier roti, pommes rissolées et tomate grillée, or a roasted chicken, herb-roasted potatoes, and a grilled tomato. This was the best chicken we’ve eaten in Epcot, hands down! There is no photo, because she dug in immediately.

Then, just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the Chef brought out raspberry and kiwi sorbet, again made on site  in their kitchen. He assured us, again, that it was safe and completely free of dairy, and gave her a scope of each. She was thrilled and I don’t know how to express the joy it gave us to see her able to enjoy a meal in a French restaurant for the first time. This is why we love Disney!

My husband and I both had the filet au Poivre, a delicious peppered steak in a peppercorn cream sauce. They were fabulously prepared and delicious, though not dairy free. Of course, we took precautions to keep everything separate on the table. We had to order our own French baguette, anyway, since our daughter had already claimed the first one as her own! She loved that so much.

Chefs de France dinner menu

Chefs de France dessert menu

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We’re heading out, back to Atlanta, after another successful trip to Disney World. It was successful because we met lots of fans and had NO ALLERGIC REACTIONS!!! And once again, we encountered a lot of people who didn’t know about the Disney food allergy program until they arrived, or shortly before. So we made a lot of new friends and we also passed along the information about our contest and our contest sponsor, BabyCakes NYC in Downtown Disney. Our winner for this contest found us at Epcot.

One fabulous find, this trip, was Le Chefs de France. They make their own sorbet, and have dedicated equipment with no cross-contamination with dairy. They also make their own French rolls, again without dairy or cross-contamination. Our daughter enjoyed eating fresh French bread for the first time. More about this later when we write the review.

Two more highlights were The Plaza in the Magic Kingdom and the 50s Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios. Prime Time Cafe was literally a blast from the past, and the chef prepared a special plate for our daughter. Later, we found the lounge was an excellent place to stop and cool off.

Akershus was great as usual, for breakfast, and the Princesses were wonderful with Mary Poppins paying a visit this time.

When we first arrived in Disney World, we dined at Wolfgang Puck’s Cafe, where Chef Carlos carved beautiful roses out of fresh strawberries after serving a wonderful grilled chicken for Charlotte. That night, we also flew through BabyCakes NYC to pickup some items to have around in the hotel. We stopped in the next day and discovered another gem in Downtown Disney. Fresh-A-Peel, in the same building as BabyCakes NYC and Pollo Campero, has a smoothie stand that never uses dairy, nuts, or gluten in their blenders. It was the first smoothie our daughter has ever had that we didn’t prepare. They also have other gluten-free options, healthy snacks, juices and fresh fruit.

Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party was a big thrill! We plan to go next year, too. It was so much fun but we didn’t get to do everything. The Disney Villains were behaving as one might expect, wicked and scary, but not too scary. We didn’t have any problem avoiding the candy and there was so much excitement everywhere that our daughter didn’t even noticed the candy stations. We simply brought our favorite Enjoy Life candy bars, Divvies Jelly Beans and other treats so that she had a basket of candy like everyone else. During the Boo to You Parade, Charlotte was offered candy from Goofy’s Candy Company crew, but politely declined.

Another great experience was the Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party. We had no real expectations for our daughter’s dessert, but we were absolutely impressed. On top of all the delicious dessert samples available for the masses, the waiter met with us and said the chef had prepared a special plate of fabulous desserts for her. And boy did he ever deliver! More about that in our review.

Look for more reviews to come.

So, until we return to the Happiest Place on Earth, we’ll be dining out at our local “allergy free haunts,” Moes, California Pizza Kitchen, Red Robin and Dulce Vegan bakery.

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We spent yesterday at the Magic Kingdom, ending it with Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. What a blast it was! We’re still exhausted.

Friday, October 7

Find us at Epcot today to win a delicious box of treats from our sponsor, BabyCakes NYC in Downtown Disney. Look for someone wearing a blue AllergyFreeMouse.com t-shirt, like the one pictured below.

Here is our plan for the day, subject to change at which time we’ll update the page, if possible:

• Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at 10:50 AM
• Via Napoli at 2:00 PM
• Le Chefs de France at 7:30 PM

We’ll also post some locations on Twitter, follow us there @AllergyMouse.

Look for this guy (not Pinocchio)

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