By Ali Randel
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Jordyn Kravitz’s big blue puppy dog eyes watered with a trace of confusion. The birthday cake brought out in front of her looks perfect with swirls of chocolate frosting coated in sugar sprinkles. Unfortunately, Kravitz has a big decision to make. Will there be cake?
Kravitz, a senior at Kalamazoo College, follows a gluten free diet in order to reduce her eczema breakouts. According to the Mayo Clinic, eczema “is a condition that causes dry, itchy and inflamed skin.” Kravitz has noticed significantly less breakouts of her condition, that she’s had since birth, when she avoids gluten. However, that does not mean that she does not want to eat the glutenous cake.
Kravitz has been eating gluten free since the start of 2023. Throughout her four years of school in Kalamazoo, she found her favorite restaurants in the area, and has recently struggled to make this adjustment to her diet and leave those restaurants behind. She has had to find new, safe spaces to eat.
“It makes me frustrated,” Kravitz said. “I definitely get more hungry when I’m watching people eat and I know that I can’t.”
Food brings people together. It forms a community. But, for people with dietary restrictions like Kravitz, it is very easy to feel ostracized from these moments. These people are often forced to avoid social situations, like birthday parties, out of fear for their safety.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, the nine major food allergens are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. A Forbes Magazine article estimates that one out of every four Americans avoids buying foods with these ingredients. That’s about 85 million people affected by the top allergens.
There are over 1.5 billion vegetarians across the world, according to the World Animal Foundation. This number includes 75 million people who are vegetarian by choice and the 88 million vegans in the world.
Due to cross contamination, lack of options, and other factors, eating out at a restaurant can be difficult for people with dietary restrictions. Many restaurants are newly enforcing protocols, labeling menus, and offering safe dining experiences for these people.
600 Kitchen and Bar, located at the intersection of E. Michigan Avenue and Harrison St., is vibrant upon the first few steps inside the door. The spacious restaurant has booths, high top tables, and an upstairs balcony overlooking the rest of the customers. The wood-lined walls create a rustic feel that is balanced by the modern and hip menu, which offers accommodations for every type of dietary restriction.
General Manager Mike Olinger said “we can accommodate any allergens, as long as they let their server know exactly what it is. We take every precaution to avoid any incidents of allergens.”
Safety protocols include wiping down cutting boards, cleaning off the grill, storing ingredients in separate places, sanitizing all cooking utensils such as knives and tongs, and keeping some of these tools reserved for only gluten-free or vegan meals. However, everything is cooked in the same kitchen, so there is a risk of cross contamination.
Cross contamination is “the physical movement or transfer of harmful bacteria from one person, object or place to another,” according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Cross contamination can occur if any item touches a different one, including when grocery shopping, refrigerating food, preparing food, or serving food.
There is always a small risk for someone with a severe allergy if they are eating at a restaurant that uses their allergen as an ingredient. For example, flour can easily be blown into the air and accidentally fall on other meals. People with high sensitivity may react to this cross contamination.
600 Kitchen and Bar is owned by Millennium Restaurant Group which also owns Martell’s, Cove Lakeside Bistro, Centre Street Tap House, WL Social House, Field Stone Grill, Kitty Hawk Café, Hub Tavern + Grill, and Millennium Catering + Events, all located throughout the Kalamazoo and Portage area. Olinger said that all these restaurants follow the same allergen friendly protocols.
Kravitz dined at Cove Lakeside Bistro and Hub Tavern + Grill and spoke highly of her experiences. For her, it is exciting to have labeled gluten-free options on the menu.
“Grateful, relieved. It takes a big stress off of me, especially because I’m so new to being gluten free, I don’t always know what I can eat if it’s not marked,” Kravitz said. “When there’s specific things on menus that I know that I can eat, I really like it.”
At 600 Kitchen and Bar, the menu changes seasonally, about four times a year. They serve lunch and dinner during the week and serve brunch and dinner on the weekend.
“We go out of our way to make sure that everyone can have a great time here at the restaurant, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, none of the above,” Olinger said. “Coming up with different options for vegetarians and vegans is fun and our chefs actually enjoy doing that.”
On the current all-day menu, there are eight meals marked gluten free and the option to substitute a gluten-free bun on any of the sandwiches. Meal options include a goat cheese mousse, Michigan cut steak, and blackened shrimp and grits. Entrees range from $17 to $23. Sandwiches range from $13 to $28.
Similarly, customers can substitute a vegan bun on any sandwich or order any of the eight other vegan meal options including meatloaf, lemon cake, and a carrot ginger appetizer. There are 13 vegetarian options such as the 600 ramen, warm chocolate brownie, and burrata, a focaccia bread appetizer topped with a maple-balsamic syrup and asparagus.
Olinger aims to include everyone at the restaurant, which is why he said it’s important to offer so many options for various dietary restrictions.
Kravitz enjoys these meal options, but also looks for sweets she can eat. On coffee dates at least twice a week with friends, it is often difficult to find a fresh pastry to sink her teeth into.
Water Street Coffee is one place where she can find what she’s looking for. General Manager of the Borgess and Downtown locations of Water Street Coffee, Brenden Mariage, echoed the same beliefs as Olinger as to why it is important to offer allergen-friendly options. He is a part of Water Street Coffee’s food menu focus group and ensures that there are options available to satisfy people like Kravitz and their sweet tooth.
“At Water Street we have a slogan for, really for anyone, but it’s called DIBS. It’s diversity, inclusion, belonging, and safety. Even though that a lot of times refers to general customer service practice, I always think of that also in terms of food because I think food is a big way that people come together, so having diverse food options is good,” Mariage said. “We want everyone to feel welcome here, like they have something here they can get.”
There are six different Water Street Coffee locations, in Kalamazoo and Portage. The downtown location, on E. Water St., is small and homey. The perfect place for a quiet study session or coffee date, the close together blue tiled tables establish a friendly neighborhood atmosphere.
Kravitz walks up the small ramp and opens the door to the old shack-like café that shakes when a train passes by, excited to relax and catch up with a friend. She looks for something to eat in the display case and sees each item labeled with what major allergens they contain. Her eye settles on the gluten free chocolate walnut oat bar, bursting with a chocolate brownie like taste, mixed with a chewy oatmeal cookie. Kravitz orders a drink to go with her pastry.
Mariage said that all the food is made at the Harrison Street location and is then freshly delivered to each location six days a week. All of the food products are cooked in the same kitchen but kept as separate as possible by using different preparation stations and storing food separately.
When served, baristas use disposable deli paper to grab the product and then throw it out to avoid cross contamination. When notified of an allergy, baristas can ensure customers’ safety by washing all utensils, going over any modifiers in the drink to verify that they don’t contain that allergen, and using a new plate and tray to heat and serve the food. Water Street Coffee’s espresso bar is sanitized after every single drink has been made, according to Mariage.
“When I came into this role, I tried to take it in stride as much as I could to improve it in any way and vouch for anyone who doesn’t eat everything,” Mariage said. “I think especially on this next menu, we’re kind of focusing on more gluten friendly, vegan, vegetarian, all those types of different aspects.”
The menu changes about every four months, in an attempt to match the weather, offering lighter options when it’s hotter. The new menu will keep some of their staples, like the gluten free Denver omelet cup and vegetarian black bean and egg breakfast burrito.
New to the menu is the vegan crispy pickled fried tofu sandwich and gluten free no bake cookie bites. There is a new peanut and kale salad which is vegan and gluten free. With 10 vegetarian meal options, including five vegan ones, their small menu offers something for people with dietary restrictions. There are three gluten-free meal options.
Meals range from $4.75 to $11.55 while pastries range from $3.25 to $6.45. A plain cup of coffee starts at $2.36, and prices vary depending on size and add-ons like flavored syrups and type of milk.
Another option for an allergen-friendly cup of coffee is Anna’s House. With nine locations across Michigan, soon to be 10, Anna’s House is becoming a go to breakfast spot for people with allergies.
“I love Anna’s House. I loved Anna’s House before I went gluten free. I love that they can make things gluten free, but they also have things on their menu that already come gluten free,” Kravitz said. “It’s been really easy for me to eat there.”
The bright colors of the decorations liven up the space. A community feel is brought to life by the mismatched mugs and wall of old toasters. Eyes wander over the never-ending intricate details from the floor to the ceiling. Kravitz feels at home and can finally take her mind off of worrying about the ingredients in her food. She is comfortable and looking forward to eating.
Kitchen Manager at the Kalamazoo location of Anna’s House, Chelsea Klecker, said that Anna’s House opened with the priority of offering meals for people with various dietary restrictions.
“It is really important,” Klecker said. “That’s kind of our thing, we try to adhere to people’s dietary needs, that’s kind of more of our specialty at Anna’s House.”
Their menu labels all of the vegan, vegetarian, dairy free, naturally gluten free, and gluten free option meals, where you can make a substitution to use gluten free ingredients such as bread.
“We can pretty much do anything. We haven’t come across anything that we can’t handle,” Klecker said.
The kitchen has a separate prep station for allergen friendly meals. All of their tools are color coded to represent each allergen such as gluten and dairy, so that there is no cross contamination in that form.
According to Klecker, the entire management team has gone through a certification process to be able to handle these requests. Waiters are trained to ask questions to clarify the dietary restriction.
Kravitz sits at the bright blue booth, hot coffee in hand. Her foot bounces, anxiously awaiting her candied pecan and banana French toast. The plate, delivered by a certified manager and separately from the rest of the glutenous order, is loaded with fresh, just starting to melt icing and caramelized bananas on top of gluten free bread. A toothpick that reads “gluten free” sticks out on top, reassuring Kravitz that she is safe to eat at Anna’s House.
Klecker said that the most popular meals for people with dietary restrictions are pancakes and French toast.
“A lot of people love being able to order a gluten free and dairy free French toast and pancakes,” Klecker said. “They haven’t had that in a long time.”
Other options include a piping hot gluten free cinnamon roll, a vegan, gluten-free, and dairy free sweet potato and brussels sprouts hash, and a vegan, gluten-free, and dairy free chocolate quinoa breakfast bowl, smothered in melted chocolate and layered with fruit and nuts.
Meals cost between $9 and $17.25. There is no additional upcharge to substitute gluten-free bread or other ingredients. To substitute a non-dairy milk in a drink, 75 cents is added to the cost.
The managers at all of these restaurants said that they do not know of someone who has had an allergic reaction to food from their restaurants. They all agree that it is important to communicate your needs with your server, so that the restaurant can give you the best accommodation possible.
As Kravitz learns more about the positives and negatives of eating with a dietary restriction, 600 Kitchen and Bar, Water Street Coffee, and Anna’s House can serve as helpful parts of her transition. She can find a place where she feels safe to eat. Kravitz no longer has to sit at a birthday party, feeling sad and different, for not being able to eat the cake.
Leave a Reply