The CCA’s GF 101 Sessions are normally  ‘Members Only’ BUT because we know that so many people need this kind of support, we have opened up the webinar to the public. Everyone welcome! Who is Ellen Bayens?

Communication is the key ingredient to every successful gluten-free restaurant meal. When diners, chefs and servers are able to collaborate on what is required and what can be reasonably delivered, there is cause for celebration!

But where to begin?

The following is a list of suggested questions to help Start the Conversation on Celiac-Friendly Dining©. In very short order, the responses you receive will allow you to gage any given restaurant’s degree of  gluten awareness – and willingness.  For the very best outcome, call ahead or take your host or server aside before ordering.

NOTE: Restaurants that have carefully researched how to serve us love going into detail. If your questions are met with impatience and exasperation – go with your gut. When restaurants get gluten free right, reward them generously!

Question #1

• Please tell me about the meals  you recommend to diners who need to eat gluten free?

Ingredients

• What ingredients will be used to make my order?
• How do staff  know whether ingredients are really gluten free?
  • Says so on labels?
  • Checked product website?
  • Called the manufacturer?
  • Checked with The Celiac Scene? The CCA?
• Will pure spices, prepared seasonings or soy sauce made from wheat be used to make my meal?
• What other food items are cooked in the oil that ‘gluten-free’ items are cooked in?
• How are sauces and dressings thickened?

Procedures

• How will my server communicate with the kitchen that a gluten-free order has been placed?
• How are gluten-free orders prepared in relation to the regular flow of the kitchen?
• Will staff wash their hands / change gloves / change aprons clean surfaces before preparing my order?
• How do staff ensure that all utensils used in preparing my food are free from any trace of gluten?
  • Separate or scrubbed frying pan? Griddle scrubbed? Aluminum foil barrier? Dedicated pots? Dedicated colanders?
• What other precautions do staff take to minimize / prevent cross contamination?
• How will my server confirm with the kitchen that the order they are collecting has been prepared gluten free?
• How will my server confirm that the order they are delivering to me is gluten free?
  

How did the restaurant learn how to meet the needs of gluten-free diners?

• Through The Celiac Scene? Canadian Celiac Association?
• Registered dietitian? Local health authority?
• Staff members with celiac disease?
  

Questions Specific to Pizza Restaurants 

• The risk of cross contamination with airborne gluten flour is HIGH. Partake only if strict protocols are in place to protect your safety.
• Are ‘gluten-free’ crusts prepared on-site? 
  • During regular operations? Before regular production? During downtimes / days?
  • See questions in Ingredient section above.
• Are pre-made ‘gluten-free’ crusts purchased from a dedicated gluten-free manufacturer? Who is the manufacturer?
• How are gluten-free sauces and toppings prepared?
  • During regular operations? Before regular production? During downtimes / days
  • See questions in Ingredient section above.
• How do staff ensure that all utensils used in preparing gluten-free orders are free of any trace of gluten?
• How are utensils, crusts, sauces and toppings protected from cross-contamination with gluten while waiting to be used?
• How will my order be protected from cross-contamination with gluten once it has been prepared and/or while waiting to be served?

If the prospect of grilling restaurants about their gluten-free friendliness feels intimidating, you’ve got options!

Visit The Celiac Scene for restaurants that enjoy an excellent reputation within Victoria and Vancouver Island’s celiac community.

Join Victoria’s Gluten-Free Foodies to dine with a gluten-free group at carefully vetted restaurants. With more than 100 Meet-Ups under our belts, choose from a huge inventory of tried and tested celiac-friendly restaurants.

‘Dining-in’ is back at 900 Degrees Wood-Fired Pizzeria Langford 4:30 to 8pm

Introducing 900° 2 Go! Contactless Take-Out & Curb-Side Pick Up.

900 Degrees offers delivery up to 7km distance. Enter your address at https://900degrees.moduurn.com for eligibility and to calculate your delivery charge (between $3.50 and $5.50.)

Build Your Own

Organic tomato sauce, house-made lemon olive, aged balsamic reduction, brie cream sauce, chilli oil, house-made pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese, basil, & pizza dough, to go!

Phone orders 250-590-4493. Special COVID-19 hours, open daily from 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Order online here

• 900 Degrees Wood-Fired Pizza 101B 2401 Millstream Avenue, Victoria (250) 590-4493
• Menu • Facebook • Instagram
• Contact Executive Chef & Owner Adrian Ortiz-Mena

My curiosity about 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria was piqued when I read in the September Edition of Eat Magazine (page 27)  that the owner’s son was a celiac. Executive Chef and Owner, Adrian Ortiz-Mena was quoted as saying,

• “I think the most innovative thing we have done is bringing really good gluten-free pizza to our customers. My son was diagnosed celiac when he was 5 years old … and he loved pizza. It broke my heart thinking that he could no longer have pizza, so I developed a gluten-free pizza dough just for him. It was a real challenge, a labour of love.”

The Celiac Scene needed to learn more!

I popped into this warm and inviting restaurant on a cold and rainy September night, hoping for the opportunity to speak to a chef or server about their gluten-free options.

I was pleasantly surprised when Adrian himself bounded from the back of the restaurant only too eager to share his son’s health journey and how he had worked at home to create a gluten-free crust that met his discerning chef standards. Using one of the best all-purpose gluten-free flour mixes on the market and few extra-special ingredients, he was able to create a crust that pleased his son – and one that Adrian believed would please his customers.

The details.

As our community well knows, it takes more that a crust to create a gluten-free pizza. Adrian set about to contact the manufacturers of every ingredient used in his entire operation to ensure that the components used in all of his pizzas were celiac-safe. Apart from the wheat flour used for his regular crusts and the garlic bread, every ingredient that 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria in house is gluten-free.

What about the process?

Adrian brimmed with enthusiasm as he explained that gluten-free pizzas are entirely prepared in a dedicated gluten-free area, in a room away from the regular production area. Sauces and toppings are stored in dedicated containers and applied with dedicated utensils that are never used to dress regular pizzas.

When a gluten-free order is processed, the chef washes his hands – up to his elbows – before starting work on an the order. When complete, the  pizza is placed on a dedicated gluten-free pizza peel (handle) and transported to the 900˚ pizza oven where it is cooked to perfection.

Here’s where it gets complicated.

At 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria,  pizzas are cooked directly on the hearth of their single pizza oven, where other gluten pizzas have also been cooked.  The concern on my face prompted Adrian to escort me directly to the oven itself where he proceeded to sweep to the side the burnt, charcoal dust of the pizza crusts that had been cooked.

While Adrian whole heartedly agreed with me that deep frying food at a standard 325-375˚F does not destroy gluten, he maintains that incinerating to 900˚residual gluten crumbs and flour from previously cooked pizzas and then sweeping them aside, most assuredly does.

That said,  900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria  is pleased to cook gluten-free pizzas on sanitized pizza pans for any gluten-free diner’s peace of mind. As a wood-fired pizza purist however,  Adrian cautions that cooking pizza on a pan may generate different results.

Final consideration.

900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria  is most assuredly a pizza lover’s pizzeria. Gluten pizza dough is thrown into the air with gusto, wheat flour coats the kitchen floor like dance dust and a fine coat of flour is evident on surfaces throughout the main preparation area.

That said after two  years’ serving gluten-free pizza, Adrian shared that there have been no reports from gluten-free diners that they have experienced gluten contamination.

As Adrian is quoted as saying in the EAT Magazine article, “I don’t think we really did anything new – we just did it better!”

I would have to agree: for celiac diners who are comfortable with these practices or those who avoid gluten as a lifestyle choice, 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria sets the gluten-free bar as high as I have seen it on Vancouver Island.

Love Pasta?

900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria stages occasional pasta specials and always offer the option of Italy’s Schar Gluten-Free Pasta to gluten-free diners!

Gluten-Free Beer?

900˚ Wood Fired Pizza is pleased to serve 100% gluten-free Forager Beer, made in Whistler from sorghum and rice. 

“Where to Eat in Canada” adds @900.degrees to it’s list of worthy restaurants, calling their pizza “as close to perfection as it’s possible to get,” and one of only a handful of restaurants here in Victoria named “Good Buys”. Check out the full review on page 306 of the 2017-18 guide published by Oberon Press. Pick up your copy today!