Suns provide a good gluten-free experience

I went to my first Jacksonville Suns game of the season last night and I have to say it was a good gluten-free experience, with one glitch.

As I've noted before, you have to go to the Sundowner Lounge, a bar upstairs from the main concourse at the ballpark, to get the gluten-free items. I went before the game to get a hot dog and beer (they are stocking Redbridge).

The hot dog, which was a pretty good sized-hot dog, came with a choice of french fries or chips. That and the beer only cost me $10, which is pretty good for any meal at a ballpark, let alone a gluten-free meal. I never asked the breakdown but I think I was getting a happy hour price on the beer that made it cheaper.

I went back for a second Redbridge later and it only cost $5, which again is a pretty reasonable price to pay at a ballpark.

The glitch was, when I ordered my hot dog, they couldn't find the gluten-free buns. It took a while for them to track them down. The nice thing was the bartender gave me some free potato chips to eat while I was waiting for them to find the buns. So I actually ended up with a big hot dog, french fries and chips. I was pretty full.

This did make me think of a drawback to the Suns gluten-free experience. I'm quite at home sitting at a bar waiting for my food but if you're bringing kids to the ballpark, that might be a problem. I'm sure if your kids have celiac, they're going to want a hot dog and there's only one place to get them.

I should also mention that when I went for my second beer, the bartender asked if I was going to come back for another one, because she would have to go get some more. Between that and the search for buns, I'm pretty sure I was the only gluten-free customer in a crowd of 3,663. I hope that doesn't discourage the Suns from continuing to offer the gluten-free items, but I don't think it will.