That's a great idea about the pasta over veggies, I would have Never thought of that. good call, I will try it at old olive garden next time!.

Taco salad no beans leave the shell, it will get all soggy if you eat slow enough.

Greek salad with gyro meat on the side is filling. no pita

French Onion soup is good, (no bread) or any clear broth soup, heck, I asked for the chicken rice soup without the rice once. yes, it took them 10 minutes to figure out I just wanted a cup of broth!

For chinese, try egg foo young, light on the gravy, wonton broth, sweet and sour meat with the breading off dipped in hot mustard sauce, they usually have seafood of some kind. buffets are huge in florida. buffets are the easiest in most restaurants...

sonny's BBQ smokes their meat and serves it without sauce, the sauce is on the tables, maybe others are that way? ( I often bring in my own lc brand if you don't wave it around the room no one will notice)

Wings..no breading..hot as you can make them, dipped in sour cream.

stuffed mushrooms, or cherry tomatoes chose seafood or cheese stuffing.

Hamburgers..fancy restaurant, no problem, its not called a hamburger anyway and they would charge you extra for the bun. fast food, order a few double cheese burgers plain, Wendys has a grilled chicken breast, no ketchup, I use the bun to hold it, [tear the bun away before you take a bite, toss it, repeat till you have finished the burger. unless some bread police sees the pile of rubble you left in the wrapper, no one will know.]

Never feel funny about asking, if you were allergic you would ask and not feel funny at all, and they get questions all the time and probably don't think anything of it, (down here in geriatric land it would be amazing if the waiter didn't get asked). you can always try to trick them out of the answer...try... "yumm, this (whatever) sounds/looks just delicious, tell, me their secret on how they prepare it? " try to keep a straight face when you do it the first time..laughing gives it away.

My favorites..steak and caeser salad, dressing on side. Then I don't have to think about eating I can enjoy the people I am with..besides after awhile no one will even dare suggest a restaurant that they know won't have good choices.