Bake Me Happy co-owners Wendy Miller Pugh and Letha Pugh. Credit: Courtesy of Wendy Miller Pugh
20 years ago, Wendy Miller Pugh, co-owner of Bake Me Happy, began experiencing stomach pain and fatigue resulting from an underlying gluten intolerance. What followed was not just a lifestyle change, but a journey of reimagining nostalgic treats without gluten.
Today, Pugh and her wife, Letha Pugh, are among several Columbus restaurant owners finding ways to make gluten-free dining more accessible. In 2013, Pugh and her wife opened Bake Me Happy, located at 500 E. Whittier St., to bring gluten-free versions of nostalgic treats, like Zebra Cakes and oatmeal cream pies, to the Columbus community.?
“To realize ‘Oh, I can eat anything here’ — that is major,” Pugh said. “That’s definitely one of the reasons why we’ve done it.”
Pugh said she prioritizes marketing to a non-gluten-intolerant audience as well.?
“Our big thing is [that] it’s not just gluten-free, it’s gluten-free that everybody can eat,” Pugh said. “We have people who come who are gluten-free and need to be gluten-free, and then we have people who come who are like, ‘I love your stuff, I don’t care if it’s gluten-free, I can’t tell.’ That’s really important, too.”
Pugh said the desire to create familiar delights helped shape the Bake Me Happy menu, which puts a gluten-free spin on classic desserts alongside many original bakery items.?
“When you go gluten-free, you can’t eat all those terrible things that you sometimes want,” Pugh said. “We do a lot of those branded type items and then we also do regular bakery items, sometimes with a twist. We do donut muffins, coffee cake muffins [and] we have a spicy peanut butter cookie.”
Bake Me Happy has a Bridge Park North Market site, located at 6750 Longshore Dr., and also sells select items to the Ohio State campus. Pugh said certain cafes on campus sell Bake Me Happy’s “Oatmeal Cream Cloud” which is their take on a traditional oatmeal cream pie.?
While Bake Me Happy offers a gluten-free approach to sugar cravings, the broader push for accessible options is taking root in full-service kitchens across the city. Just ten minutes from campus in Upper Arlington, S?W Plated, located at 1625 W. Lane Ave., approaches this challenge in a unique way, placing high-quality ingredients at the forefront of their operation.?
Owned by John and Sunny Fahlgren, S?W Plated grew from Sunny’s personal interest in how whole foods could support her family’s well-being. The couple saw an opportunity to introduce sustainable, organic and wellness driven menu items to the community, said Louis Hatzipetrakos, an operating partner for S?W Plated.
Unlike many recipes which require gluten removal, S?W Plated creates their dishes with naturally gluten-free ingredients, making most of the menu gluten-free.?
“We’re just fortunate that a restaurant that focuses so much on plants and vegetables naturally has a lot of gluten-free food,” Hatzipetrakos said. “We’ve strategically chosen ways to incorporate gluten or non-gluten things. For example, all of our desserts are gluten-free, and almost all of them are vegan. It was just by choosing specific ingredients that were not glutenous.”
Hatzipetrakos said the restaurant uses oat and buckwheat flour in select dishes and desserts, swaps soy sauce for tamari, uses rice noodles for their bestselling Pad Thai and provides gluten-free buns for sandwiches upon request.?
Organic sourcing is one of the brand’s core pillars alongside sustainability and wellness. Hatzipetrakos said the restaurant currently emphasizes organic products over local sourcing, however, the two often come hand-in-hand. S?W Plated sources some ingredients from nearby organic farms, including Three Creeks, New Albany Organics and select Amish farms.
Some of the restaurant’s best selling items include the Maple Sweet Chili Cauliflower appetizer, the Harvest Salad and their rice noodle Pad Thai, which remains the menu’s top seller.
S?W Plated also operates two takeout locations in Columbus — one at 435 W. Broad St. in Franklinton and another at 30 Price Ave. in the Short North.?
Although S?W Plated offers many gluten-free options, Hatzipetrakos said the restaurant does not claim to be allergy-specific. Customers with a celiac allergy or other severe allergies should disclose their needs to staff to avoid potential cross-contamination.
True Food Kitchen, located at 4052 Worth Ave., opened in 2008, with a menu inspired by the anti-inflammatory teachings of celebrity doctor Dr. Andrew Weil, according to Columbus general manager, Lisa Fox.?
“Guests shouldn’t have to choose between something that is delicious or ingredients that they feel good about — it’s just kind of having those worlds come together,” Fox said. “We want people to have a place where they can feel safe and good about the choices that they’re making on our menu.”
True Food Kitchen offers a variety of gluten-free options with signature dishes including their “Korean Noodle Bowl,” “Teriyaki Quinoa Bowl,” “Chinese Chicken Salad” and “Tahitian Tombo Tuna Poke Bowl.” In addition, all their pizzas can be made with gluten-free crust and burgers can be ordered? with? gluten-free buns.?
“Our intent is to really focus on giving guests real choices that they’re excited to eat and not just an afterthought or only one or two options,” Fox said.?
Fox said the True Food Kitchen staff members are trained to handle allergies, and allergy-specific tickets go through several procedures to properly accommodate the guests. However, guests must make sure to disclose the severity of their allergy prior to ordering so employees can take the necessary precautions.?
The restaurant will release new menu items on Oct. 20 to bring back seasonal favorites.
