Tonight Erik and I had dinner at Magnolia Grill. We had never been there before and I wasn't really sure what to expect. Although, a good friend of ours did say that they had great Root Beer Floats.

Well, I love hand dipped shakes and floats, so off we went.

Erik almost always walks home from work and I'm always looking for an excuse to get out of the apartment - especially if it includes not having to cook dinner. Especially today since I went to our storage unit and did the old sort and purge.

The diner is in the French Quarter in a great old building that spans between two streets. You can enter from one street and exit onto another. The soda fountain counter runs the length of the building and the bar stools are chrome appointed, well padded and of course they swivel a full 360 degrees.

The staff is very friendly. As with most gluten free dining I recommend going at an "off-peak" time of day. We were there on a Tuesday night. True, it was dinner time. Around 6 pm. But, Tuesday it not a jumping night of the week in this particular section of the quarter. I was the only customer in the place when I first walked in.

I ordered my Root Beer Float. They use Barq's Root Beer. Now, I know there is debate about Barq's. I'm going to just wait it out and see how I feel tomorrow. Especially since I just didn't think about it ahead of time and didn't look up the gluten free properties of Barq's until I was half-way through my float. I'm traditionally a tea drinker.

I asked if they could make me a "breadless" Ruben. They have a wonderful Ruben sandwich on the menu. The waitress and I talked about my "wheat allergy." I have found that easier to talk about than gluten intolerance or celiac disease. Allergies are well understood in our society.

They didn't have a problem cleaning off a portion of the grill for me. They grilled the corned beef. Added the cheese and sauerkraut on top of a bed of lettuce (which I could have done without and will next time thank you very much). I got my dressing on the side and then a surprise of a second plate of French fries. I just never eat them anymore so I didn't even think to look for them on the menu.

Well, the really surprising thing about them is they WERE NOT coated. With anything. That's really an issue in this city. For some reason potatoes can't just be fried in the buff. Oh, no. They have to be coated with something first - and of course it is wheat based. But, these were gloriously crisp and plain. So, I took a plunge and asked what else was fried in the oil they cooked their fries...and found out the orgasmically, body shuddering news of the night: nothing!

They have a dedicated fryer for their fries!!!

Let me say that again....nothing else gets fried in that oil but potatoes.

At that point who cared what the corned beef tasted like, I was ready to gorge on fried potatoes. And, I did.

But, I have to say the breadless ruben was good.

Well, I'm done for the evening. More culinary adventures in the Crescent City later.