The King's Taster Visits Smoked in Kent, CT

Smoked - Kent, CT

Kitchen Oil: Olive Oil

Spoon Rating: Four Spoon Rating

If you are in the mood for as they describe it "Modern American cuisine with a Southern Soul" then this is the place to visit if you have food allergies. This restaurant is run by a husband and wife team that have an intimate knowledge of their food. These owners clearly take a personal interest in their patrons needs and go the extra mile to help you choose or even customize a menu item that will fit your allergy needs. The kitchen staff are more than willing to use separate cooking equipment for their patrons because each meal is made to order. In addition they utilize olive oil in their kitchen one of the most allergy friendly cooking oil options because it does no automatically exclude soy and peanut allergy patrons when utilized in a kitchen. Their menu does change daily because they use locally produced and in-season ingredients so we recommend giving this restaurant a call if you want to ensure that your favorite dish is available. There is a sample menu on their website: http://www.smokedrestaurant.com/ , which will give you a rough idea of their food options. They do have nuts on premises so this is not a nut free environment. If you have celiac's disease or a gluten allergy there are many menu items that might appeal to you and we particularly liked their spicy shrimp and grits. We would also suggest this restaurant for those with soy or garlic allergies because of their ability to accommodate patrons needs and their oil choice. Despite the wonderful experience we had eating at this restaurant we feel that they fell just short of our coveted five spoon rating. This is because while this restaurant is certainly willing and able to meet the needs of patrons with food allergies we felt that their ability to do so is a byproduct of their restaurant's approach to providing made to order, fresh, in-season food and we did not observe any attempts to reach out to patrons with food allergies either through notations on their menu or their web-site. We feel that this is simply a lost opportunity to expand the reach of their clientele. By adding language to their menus and web-site that encourages customers with allergies to reach out to their waitstaff, notes their ability to customize menu items, and perhaps suggests allergy specific menu options such as gluten free dishes they could easily reach our five spoon rating. In the meantime we look forward to our next visit to Kent, CT and we will definitely be making Smoked a part of our trip.