Peanut Allergies--a dining resource

My son was recently diagnosed with a peanut and tree nut allergy. I was surprised to learn just how many kids these days are nut sensitive and it has become a major challenge for my family to find a safe place to eat out. After speaking to our son's allergist we have decided to try and keep him away from food that has been produced in facilities where nuts are used in other products. This is a challenge when dining out as most places have some form of nuts in the kitchen. We have pretty much ruled out Chinese and Thai restaurants as safe for my kid for the time being.

I thought it might be useful to start a thread here where people can post about restaurants that they have found to be particularly allergy friendly or unfriendly. For instance, we have learned that the Bent Fork Bakery in Highwood and Three Tarts Bakery in Northfield are nut allergy friendly. We have also learned that the Walker Bros. restaurants prepare most everything in peanut oil. We now skip raising our concerns with our server and go right to manager to inform him of the seriousness of out nut situation and its potential to cause our son's death. We have found this tactic to be much more reliable than a conversation with a server. My hope is this thread will be of some help to people who are dealing with this issue. BTW i saw this viewtopic.php?f=16&t=7461&p=67307&hilit=peanut+free#p67307 thread started to discuss peanut free bakeries but was slightly outdated. Maybe this thread can pick up and expand on where that thread left off. That having been said, here are a few thoughts on places where I have an absolute comfort level, I will post more as I gather more intel.

BAKERIES

Three Tarts Bakery & Bent Fork Bakery are both extremely peanut allergy friendly and will work with you to make sure the product you purchase is peanut free. The owner of Three Tarts has a child with a nut allergy. Sadly, Deerfield Bakery, our birthday party favorite for 30 years, is not nut allergy friendly as they work with both tree and peanuts in their bakery and cannot guarantee a nut free product.

Three Tarts Bakery
301 South Happ Road
Northfield 60093
847.46.5444

The Bent Fork
333 Waukegan Rd
Highwood, IL 60040
(847) 926-4438

SUSHI

Happi Sushi in Highland Park is nut free with the exception of the peanut sauce on the Gomae. They have assured us that they will not prepare our son's food anywhere near the peanut sauce and are very cautious about post peanut cleanups.

Happi Sushi
561 Roger Williams Ave.
Highland Park, IL 60035
847-432-1516

Pizza

NY Slices in Highland Park is absolutely nut free.

NY Slices
1843 Second Ave
Highland Park, IL 60035
847-432-6979