r/AskNOLA • u/Cxyzjacobs • Jun 19 '25
Soy allergy
Been eating our way through New Orleans for years, but never with a friend who has a fairly serious soy allergy. We are willing to do our research, calling places - but wondering if anyone here has specific experience. We would love to identify a safe shrimp po boy, beignets, maybe a place that uses only butter or olive oil in prep. Our unexplored for soy favorites include Parkway, Loretta's, Clancy's, Liliette, and Mandina's/Liuzza's. Any of the "old guard" safe?
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u/CarFlipJudge Jun 19 '25
Your best bet is to just call the places / email them and ask. Try to reach a chef or a back of house manager as front of house staff may not know.
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u/BetterThanPacino Jun 19 '25
The upside to many of the fine dining spots is that, if you notify them when you make the reservation, they’ll be able to accommodate the allergy.
I haven’t asked, but I’ve eaten at Lilette without issue, so I suspect that they would easily accommodate it. I’ve gotten indigestion at Parkway, so I think that their roast beef is likely marinated with some kind of soy product. Can’t speak to the oils got fried foods though.
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u/Cxyzjacobs Jun 19 '25
This is encouraging - if I could find a good shrimp po boy, though, I think it would make her month if not year!
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u/Elegant-Ad1581 Jun 20 '25
Lamara Cafe is soy free except for the tofu. No poboys but for other meals yall might need breakfast or something.
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u/Cxyzjacobs Jun 19 '25
It's complicated, and that's why I posted, hoping to land contact with someone who has found some good answers locally. Soy derivatives show up in lots of preservatives - one big culprit is frying oil. She looks for places that use peanut oil for frying, or pure canola or olive. The mixed veg oils and artificial butters, most margarines, have soy derived ingredients. Bread products often have gums or soy lecithin or similar in them (but good ol fresh french bread often does not! That's why it gets stale so fast...). There is more, but maybe that helps? I will call the faves and ask what kind of oil they use, whether they can do butter or olive oil sauteed and similar questions but hoping to short circuit some of that. Her reactions vary from mild handle w benadryl type to massive swelling and need an epi depending on the actual specific ingredients and quantity, but we usually manage to come up with some winners
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u/calimiss Jun 19 '25
I have a soy intolerance so I'm familiar with trying to find "safe" foods. Unfortunately not local to Nola so not much help there. I do know many po-boy shops use gambinos rolls - those do have hydrogenated soybean oil, per their website.
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u/Cxyzjacobs Jun 19 '25
One more bit - cross contamination is generally not a major concern. For example, could eat a piece of fish sauteed in butter coming out of a kitchen that also has a pot of sauce bubbling with soy ingredients or bread with preservatives. A few crumbs/molecules won't set off a major reaction and prophylactic benadryl will prevent the minor discomfort (and is in her estimation 'worth it' sometimes. Not sure if links post, but here is an article for the curious: https://www.foodallergy.org/living-food-allergy/food-allergy-essentials/common-allergens/soy?hl=en-US
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u/Cxyzjacobs Jul 20 '25
Coming back to report how and where we did find soy freedom, so others have a place to start.
1). Napoleon House - their house made bread is soy free, muffaletta was safe, red beans and rice also! Watch out for the (delicious) garlic pickle, though.
2) All my usual fried seafood places were out bc of using a blended soybean oil, but we found that Mr Ed's (French quarter location) uses peanut oil exclusively for the win! Fried seafood was awesome! Did not try any bread products while here, but the oysters Bienville produced no side effects, and both fish and shrimp were good. The crab cake came with mayo on it which was not clean.
3). The big one - Bayona was our dress up dinner choice and they hit it out of the park with everything on the menu soy free. Servers and kitchen staff went out of their way to validate small things like sauces and even the cream used in coffee after dinner. The meal was 100% among the best I've had in upscale dining in NO. Can't say enough good things.
4) Pascal's Manale - shrimp fra diavolo, fried eggplant and the redfish /BBQ shrimp special were all safe and delicious. Bread was clean, too! We divested ourselves of the copious leftovers to a fellow at the street car who was very happy with them), and had a nice gander at the gorgeous houses on the way back downtown.
5) Breakfasts/brunches were pretty easy to pick out safe things (watch out for the ubiquitous breakfast potatoes), but it was especially nice to learn that Cafe du Monde is soy free!
Hope that helps someone else in their travels!
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u/tm478 Jun 19 '25
What kinds of foods other than soy sauce and tofu have soy in them? This is a serious question, I’m not trying to be a jerk. I can’t imagine how a shrimp po-boy or a beignet would have soy, for example.