Tuesday’s Travels – gluten free in Aurora, Colorado

… I’m Hooked on Tokyo Joe’s!

I visited Aurora, Colorado this past week and enjoyed some much-needed quality family time. While there I also stopped in on some wonderful gluten-free companies in the greater Denver Metro area, as well as Boulder. More about that later.

One of my favorite discoveries while in Aurora, (thanks Sarah!), was learning about a fantastic casual-dining eatery that does delicious food – and not just delicious food, but deliciously AWESOME gluten-free, dairy-free food. Tokyo Joe’s is the place to which I’m referring. It was so good, I made sure to fit TWO trips to Tokyo Joe’s in during my quick-paced week in CO.

Tokyo Joe’s is a Colorado-based company (oh, I wish they were in MN too!) with 25 locations between Colorado Springs and Fort Collins. Tokyo Joe’s is a family friendly, reasonably priced, casual dining restaurant with a healthy Japanese cuisine theme. The food is fresh and made to your order. Their menu has everything to create a fulfilling and satisfying gluten-free meal, including starters, made-to-order sushi, Protein/Rice/Veggie Bowls – designed either by you or as Signature Bowls with pre-determined combinations – plus soups and salads, noodle bowls, and even Joe’s Tea Bar.

While not all items on the menu are gluten-free, there are numerous options to choose from or to create. Be sure to ask for their gluten-free Teriyaki Sauce! It’s sweet and savory and oh, so good!

We dined at the Southlands Mall location in Aurora. The staff was friendly and were very aware of how to accommodate gluten-free, as well as our dairy-free, needs. They also were quite keen in their understanding shellfish allergies, quickly conveying to me the choices available to maintain a no-cross-contamination experience. I felt confident in placing my order. I did confuse them, though, during my second visit and ended up with white rice instead of brown. A reminder to myself, and you, to always have the order read back to you, especially to verify the order is gluten-free or free of any allergens pertinent to you. There were never any mix-ups with the gluten-free, dairy-free (or shellfish-free) points though. 😀

During our two visits, Patrick (whom some of you might have met at the GFAF Expo in Chicago a couple of weeks ago) enjoyed the Made-to-Order Sushi (I forgot to take a photo. What kind of food blogger am I, right?.) He also thought their Build-Your-Own Bowl with chicken, white rice, and veggies with gluten-free teriyaki sauce was very good.

I loved my food choice of Build-Your-Own Bowl with steak, brown rice and veggies with gluten-free teriyaki sauce so much that I did an exact repeat on my second visit. YUM!

I’m so glad I have family, and business relationships, in Colorado. This assures me there are more visits to Tokyo Joe’s in my future.

For more tasty tidbits of information, be sure to visit Tokyo Joe’s.

Safe food is a journey … Thrive!™