April 5, 2008

A Gluten Free Birthday At American Girl

A 9th Birthday Party

One of our daughter's wishes was to go to the American Girl Place in New York City. She wanted to have a day of shopping, some fun and a special birthday luncheon. I thought this might be little challenging, since the kids and I eat gluten free. However, my husband, who was determined to make sure that our soon be 9 year old had a wonderful day, scoped out the American Girl web site. To our delight, he discovered the Cafe offered a gluten free menu. All we needed to do was to call and make our reservation.

I called the American Girl Place two months ahead of time to make our reservation and they were happy to say they could serve us a gluten free lunch. The one thing we had to wait to talk to the kitchen staff about was whether or not they could do a gluten free birthday cake. She said that the kitchen staff would also take our order for meals at the same time. With that done all we needed to do was wait for the kitchen staff to call.

Two weeks before our reservation, the American Girl Cafe called to verify our reservation and to take our lunch order. We were offered selections for a Warm Welcome (appetizer), First Course, and the Entree. Our kitchen staff representative said they would be ordering a gluten free cake for us to enjoy. My daughter was over joyed, she could have a gluten free American Girl Birthday Lunch.

Our daughter's big day arrived and mid morning we made our way to the train station. A little while later we were riding Metro North Railroad into Grand Central Station. We exited the train and made our way through all the tourists taking pictures of the inside of the Station. Our daughter was instantly struck by all the things that reminded her of the movie Madagascar. Looking around, she said "Did you see the clock Melman stuck his head through?" We made our way through the crowds to the cab stand and then we were off to the American Girl Place.

After a birthday shopping spree in the stores, we headed to the concierge to drop off our coats and shopping bags before going to the Cafe. Where our Birthday Girl was just speechless with all the black, white and pink decorations and the chair at the table for her new doll. Soon, the fun began when our drinks were served and her doll was given her own cup of imaginary tea.

While we were admiring the restaurant, our wonderful server brought fruit kebabs as our appetizer and then a first course of turkey roll-ups with fruit salad and fresh vegetables. While we waited on our entree, we took turns reading the Table Talkers provided by the restaurant to get our luncheon conversation flowing. Soon our entree arrived of grilled chicken, grilled mixed vegetables, sweet potato fries and a fresh salad of baby greens. Once our lunch arrived there was little conversation going on for a while, due to the sweet potato fries. Sweet potato lovers that we are, we had to try out those luscious looking fries sprinkled with large chunks of salt. We were enjoying our lunch so much, we were only brought back to the realization that birthday cake was still to come by the singing of Happy Birthday to girl at a neighboring table.

Within a few minutes my daughter's birthday cake arrived with a around of singing and picture taking. They brought out a gluten free flourless chocolate cake covered in chocolate and decorated in pink ribbons and bows. They served the cake with strawberry sherbet. Since there we had so much cake left over, they wrapped it up for us to go in it's own cute little American Girl bag.

Afterwards, we headed over to Toys 'R Us on Times Square to allow our son and the big brother to do a little shopping of his own. After riding the Ferris Wheel and checking out the Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus Rex, he chose to spend his time checking out the Lego and the Transformers departments.

Our day was done and a wonderful time was had by all of us. Although, we all agreed the best part of the day was the fabulous luncheon party we had at American Girl.

15 comments:

Muser | Writer | Traveler said...

Darn it! I have taken my daughter to lunch at AG Place and had I know they did a gluten free cake I would have lied and said it was her birthday :-) I didn't eat very much.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

oh my goodness, how positively exciting that you were able to be fully gluten-free at American Girl!!! hooray!!! :0)

Libby said...

A very happy birthday to your daughter! I'm glad you had such a special day together. (And that cake looks luscious.) Libby

Gluten Free In the Greens said...

That's really lovely--I'm so glad your daughter was able to have a special birthday!

EnchantedMusing said...

Yay!! I'm glad they could accomodate you. We just recently experienced AG as a belated Christmas gift from grandma - lunch and all. It was quite a day for my daughter.

Sounds like you had a great day!!

Vittoria said...

That's so wonderful! I work right across the street from AG, but I had outgrown the dolls by the time the store became such a phenom. It's great to know that a store for American girls really does cater to the needs of American girls. I hope one day to take my niece, perhaps even my my own daughter one day.

I'm so glad your daughter had such a wonderful birthday!

Simply...Gluten-free said...

I had boys so I just heard about American Girl recently on John & Kate plus Eight. Sounds like a wonderful time.

Beth said...

That is so nice that American Girl was able to accommodate and make her birthday a truly special day! I'm always delighted when a restaurant has a special menu.

Natalie, aka "Sheltie Girl" said...

The Cabrelli's - Thank you for stopping by the blog. If you do decide to go back to the AG Place Cafe, when you make your reservation you need to ask for the Birthday Party Package, it has the meal and cake plus party favors. Make sure to call ahead of time to make your reservation so they have time to order your cake.

Sheltie Girl

Natalie, aka "Sheltie Girl" said...

Veggie Girl, Allergy Mom, GF in the Greens, Enchated Musing - Thank you for stopping by the blog and taking time to share a message. I appreciate you taking the time to share with me.

Sheltie Girl

Natalie, aka "Sheltie Girl" said...

Vittoria - That is pretty cool that you work across the street from AG. I'd be so tempted to have a standing reservation at the cafe, just so I could eat a wonderful gf meal. I hope you get to go to Cafe one day...although you should just go now and enjoy a wonderful lunch. Just think of it as...you are a little bit older American Girl.

Sheltie Girl

Natalie, aka "Sheltie Girl" said...

Simply..GF & Beth - Thank you for stopping by my blog and sharing your thoughts with me. I had never heard of American Girl until my daughter was almost 2 years old. Then the catalogs started coming and oh my...the dolls were so lovely and all the nifty accessories. Needless to say my girl loved it all.

The AG Place was a wonderful place for some fun and a special meal. We didn't have to worry at all and it made the day even more enchanting.

Sheltie Girl

Catherine said...

That's so heartwarming to see what a great job they did! I can't imagine how difficult it must be to eat gluten-free as a little girl.

--Catherine
www.aglutenfreeguide.com

Natalie, aka "Sheltie Girl" said...

Hi Catherine - It's interesting that it's not hard on her to be gluten free. What's hard is when we go to restaurants and there isn't something that she/we can eat. Thanks for stopping by!

Sheltie Girl

Roosevelt's Wobbler's said...

Hi! I'm Kevin Moore whom you spoke with from American Girl and I am in charge of all the allergy issues ... since you came in April - I have created and implemented gluten free menus for brunch, lunch, and dinner. No need to pre-order. Your child can come in and sit down and have their own menu - just like everyone else. I'm glad you had such a good time...and the gluten free cake is SOOO much better than the regular ....