Ah, Chicago. I want to go back so badly that I've made it the wallpaper on my computer at work.
I described the city as allergy-friendly because of something that occurred in a restaurant that I've never experienced.
My nonallergic friend met me downtown at Chicago's Magnificent Mile. Magnificent doesn't begin to do it justice, but as this is a food review blog and not a shopping review blog, I will hold my comments for another time. The nonallergic friend and I were both famished, so she suggested a restaurant she and her nonallergic husband thoroughly enjoy, The Grand Lux Cafe.
I had been on a plane for 2 hours and the only thing I'd had to eat was some non-peanut snack mix (United Airlines, very allergy-friendly!), so we settled in to our booth with our menus. The restaurant was reminiscent of the Cheesecake factory, so it took awhile to figure out what to order. But here was the impressive thing: the ingredients were all ON THE MENU. It would list for example, greek salad, and then proceed to list every ingredient in the salad (with the exception of the dressing). The Grand Lux Cafe was one of the few times in my life I've ever been able to order a meal without asking the waiter ANY food-allergy related questions! No special requests either. We had a lovely brunch that morning!
Here's the link to their website, they have locations in a few places across the country.
http://www.grandluxcafe.com/

Happy eating,
Your Allergic Diner