Restaurant wins Best Gluten-Free Options in Nanaimo News Bulletin’s Best of the City survey
A popular eatery with respondents to this year’s Best of the City survey is all gluten-free, and some patrons might not even know it.
Off the Hook Surf and Turf Smokery was at the top of the Best Gluten-Free Options category because of, well, its gluten-free options that make up the restaurant’s entire menu.
Matthew Schmidt, general manager, has some history with the restaurant location, formerly the home of the Windward Pub where he worked for 10 years. He moved on when that establishment closed, but ended up returning when he was asked by the current owners to set up and manage Off the Hook and get it established as a gluten-free dining option for the community.
“[It was] kind of a challenge at first, because you still get a lot of people that have that misconception that gluten-free food is not good,” Schmidt said. “But we kind of took it by storm and created an entire menu and we as a business are constantly evolving as well.”
Schmidt said Off the Hook keeps patrons’ palates interested by changing the menu with the season to bring “new and exciting dishes that people can get excited for.”
The trick is to keep offering returning patrons opportunities to discover what new dishes are on the menu and instead of actively promoting its gluten-free aspect, to just let that spread by word of mouth.
“We would tell people after they’d come in and they’re, like, ‘wow, this is the best food I’ve had in a very long time,’ and we’re like, ‘well, you wouldn’t even know it’s gluten-free’ and the shocked look on their faces when you’d tell them that is worth it because it’s giving people that little hint of knowledge that they didn’t have before and it’s getting them to try something that they really wouldn’t normally go for,” Schmidt said.
He and his staff want to keep the dining experience exciting for the customers by staying creative to come up with recipes and presentations not found elsewhere.
“We go through a lot of steps to find the recipes and the way we can tackle it … Even with our fish and chips, our batter has turmeric in it so it promotes good gut health and we do a nice tempura batter over it so it is more crunchy and more fresh so you actually get to taste the fish itself instead of getting a beer-battered piece of fish that has a thick slop of mess over it,” he said. “We want it nice, crispy, fried, that’s just soft on the inside. It’s fantastic.”