Since we have finished up our beer travels in the great city of Marquette. Today we are going to take another break from traveling around the breweries of the Upper Peninsula and check in with another familiar face in the brewing industry a little closer to home. Don’t worry, we will be back to visiting breweries in the Upper Peninsula tomorrow.
Recently I took another trip over to Heights Brewing Company in Farmington, Michigan and sat down with one of the owners of the business, Shawn Kavanagh, and had a little chat about her aspect of running the brewery. She didn’t have an official job title that she was able to divulge, but Shawn is in charge of everything culinary at Heights Brewing, and she has quite the passion for overseeing all phases of the food program at the brewery. So I will suggest the title of Emperor of the Kitchen for her, let’s see if we can get that to stick.
Shawn is a celiac, which for those of you that aren’t aware, a celiac is a person that can’t tolerate gluten in their diet. Although she had no formal training in the food service industry, (Other than a short stint as a server in her early 20’s), previous to operating the kitchen at Heights, she has curated a menu that is not only a gluten-free menu, but also caters to food allergies of all types. She takes great pride in offering a menu that is tolerant to all sorts of dietary restrictions.
Being a celiac, she noted how hard it is to go out to eat and know that the food you are getting is 100% gluten free. Between cross-contamination in kitchens and servers not always being the most informed people about all products on the menus of restaurants, it can be really difficult to ensure that everything is gluten-free. The easiest way to take care of that, make the entire menu gluten-free.
She started coming up with the recipes that she now offers in the brewery at home, while making food for her and her husband Ryan. She played around and perfected the recipes over years of practice and was ready to share her creations with the brewing world. The bread that is used in the Grilled Cheese that they offer is not only gluten-free but it is made fresh in house everyday.
The menu item that she is most proud of and described as her “baby” is the Cornbread Muffins. Shawn said that the recipe for them took quite a while to get absolutely right, but I can personally say, she absolutely knocked them out of the park. Her Cornbread Muffins are outstanding and are the best thing that I have tasted on their menu to date, and this is coming from a guy that doesn’t normally care for Cornbread all that much. But it is not the only thing that is delicious on their menu, they offer a wide variety of different BBQ dishes and sides, including but not limited to Sliders, Tacos, Nachos, Fries, Coleslaw and Baked Beans.
I did ask Shawn what the response has been so far to their gluten-free menu, and she replied that people love it. Recently she had a customer that has been diagnosed as a celiac for 15 years. This customer ordered a Grilled Cheese and after one bite started crying, she told Shawn that it was the first time in those 15 years of being a celiac that she enjoyed a Grilled Cheese because it was the first time she had one that tasted like a Grilled Cheese during that time. Shawn then said that this filled her with joy and is the reason that she is so focused on catering to people’s dietary restrictions. She wants to create a safe space for all people with food sensitivities and allergies to enjoy a great meal at.
In addition to the food aspect of the business, she is also in charge of sampling their gluten-free beers before they reach the taps. This sounds like a really hard part of the job, I don’t think anyone wants to be in charge of sampling beers at a brewery………So if you ever feel like you need a break from this aspect of the job, give me a call Shawn, I can probably clear some time off my schedule and make it over there to do the hard work.
I usually end my interviews with brewers with the same question but since Shawn is not a brewer, I went another route and finished up with a different question. I asked her if she could curate a perfect meal for herself, what would that meal be? She took almost no time to think about it and replied with a spread of Seafood, including such great items as Crab Legs, Shrimp, Salmon, and Lobster. By the way Shawn, as a result of this answer, we can totally be food friends. I absolutely love Seafood, I travel out to the East Coast every couple of years and eat nothing but Seafood for a week straight. Along with this answer, she also mentioned that they hope to be adding Seafood to the menu at Heights in the near future, so stay tuned.
If you or someone you know has food allergies and you want to go somewhere that takes pride in making sure that all dietary restrictions are taken very seriously. Take a trip out to Heights Brewing and visit Shawn Kavanagh and taste all the delicious creations she is creating in their kitchen. Estrovia!
#brewery #craftbeer #drinklocal #michiganbeer
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