Published July 2004

Kaili’s Restaurant & Bakery:
Serving up gluten-free fare

Snohomish County Business Journal/KIMBERLY HILDEN At Kaili’s Restaurant & Bakery in Edmonds, owner Kaili McIntyre (right) says she “couldn’t live without” baker Michael Tanis, who serves up gluten-free cinnamon rolls, brownies and carrot cake.

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Visitors to Kaili’s Restaurant & Bakery in Edmonds will find a menu brimming with possibilities, from cinnamon rolls and blueberry scones hot out of the oven to beer-battered prawns and spicy broccoli tofu stir-fry fresh from the kitchen.

There are frozen entrees to go, including chicken and vegetable pot pies, deep dish pizzas and vegetable frittatas, and tempting desserts of brownies, carrot cake and fruit cobblers.

But one thing not on the menu is gluten — not in the peanut butter cookies, the chicken fettuccini or the amaranth pancakes. Not in the wedding cakes made to order, the hamburger buns sold on site or the hors d’oeuvres trays and turkey dinners that are part of Kaili’s catering services.

“Everything we serve is gluten free, and it’s terrific,” said Kaili McIntyre, who opened her restaurant in October after offering her gluten-free fare for the previous two years in a cafeteria she operated inside the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Shoreline office.

“(Customers) would look at me in disbelief, like ‘There’s food? Why would you do this for us?’” said McIntyre.

The answer, simply put, is because McIntyre is one of them, a sufferer of celiac disease.

It is a condition in which the consumption of gluten, found in wheat and other related grains, triggers an autoimmune reaction that damages the lining of the small intestine. According to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, that reaction can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea and abdominal pain to chronic fatigue and malnutrition.

For McIntyre, whose children also suffer from gluten intolerance, the need to develop gluten-free foods became a necessity, and she began, through trial and error, to do just that. When the demand for her gluten-free food began to grow at the cafeteria, she decided to strike out on her own with Kaili’s.

Thanks to advertising in Living Without magazine and through word of mouth, customers the world over come to Kaili’s. And it is their response that has been a true joy, McIntyre said.

“There are people in tears because they can eat the simple things that they couldn’t eat before,” she said, adding that her breads can be found at Manna Mills Natural Foods of Mountlake Terrace and that plans are in the works to expand Kaili’s wholesale business.

In doing so, McIntyre said she hopes to help others with celiac disease enjoy a diet filled with possibilities, not restrictions.

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