A Family Night Dining Out @ nkd pizza

Having children that not only are picky eaters but also suffer from severe food allergies can often make something as seemingly simple as going out to eat a grueling experience.  I am pleased to say neither of these problems were an issue for our family during a recent evening dining out at nkd pizza's newest Michigan location in the city of Sterling Heights at the corner of 16 Mile Road and Dequindre.  nkd pizza creates a new standard for the term "comfort food" as in addition to its offerings being great tasting their food is also prepared with healthy ingredients in a thoughtful manner that will give people with food allergies some comforting peace of mind about eating items from there.

What kid doesn't like pizza?! Well my son apparently is the odd one out because he won't even try the stuff.  Fortunately, nkd pizza also has chicken tenders on their menu that my son really enjoyed.

When it comes to their pizza there are 10 house selections to choose from, such as Margherita, Road-House & Oahu, or you can build your own customized pie.  We built our own pizzas and they were delicious!  You know nkd pizza passed the taste test when my daughter scarfed down a whole pizza by herself.  My wife and I particularly enjoyed nkd pizza's unique crust combined with their house made tomato sauce.

The reason nkd pizza's crust is so good is because it is made from an Ancestral Blend® of 10 grains plus agave fiber and probiotics (healthful bacteria like the ones found in yogurt for balance and digestive health) bound by water and made by hand at the restaurant. The grains they use include oats, brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, teff, spelt, tapioca, and two kinds of wheat. This combination of grains, fiber and probiotics creates a satisfying feeling when eating it because the ingredients provide a slow, sustained release of energy compared to the crash you may experience when eating other single grain, highly processed pizzas.

nkd pizza really has a focus on healthy eating.  They make your pizza by hand using fresh, all-natural ingredients.  No artificial colors, additive or preservatives involved with making up these pizzas.  This focus on healthy eating also means that nkd pizza takes addressing food allergies very seriously which is appreciated by this family who deals with that topic on a daily basis.  In fact, nkd pizza provided us a tour of the restaurant's kitchen to demonstrate their commitment to addressing allergy concerns and cooking with all natural ingredients.

Often times restaurants just provide lip service in regard to customer concerns about food allergies but from talking to the staff and touring the kitchen, A Geek Daddy could tell that nkd pizza really gets it.  They clearly understand that contamination is as important as ingredients are when it comes to food preparation safety.  They've made sure that their primary menu is peanut / tree nut ingredient and contamination free.  Dairy free options are also available.  Also there is a gluten free option for almost every pizza option on the menu.

Of course when dealing with food allergies nothing can ever be easy.  Unlike its main menu dough which is made on-site, nkd pizza purchases the gluten free dough from a vendor that processes it in a facility with tree nuts.  So the utensils, pans, and ingredients need to be segregated to avoid contaminating the gluten free food with wheat used to make the customized Ancestral Blend® breads and crusts in the kitchen and to avoid the main menu food coming into contact with the dough used for the gluten free pizzas which  was made in a facility that also processes tree nuts.  nkd pizza does a nice job of accomplishing this by having separate preparation areas and not allowing equipment to be co-mingled within the kitchen.  At last a restaurant that understands the concept of avoiding food allergy contamination within the kitchen!

Understanding that people with food allergies are often suspicious of baked goods for deserts, nkd pizza only provides packaged treats that contain ingredient labels and allergy warnings on them.  Catering to a food allergy clientele, their deserts are gluten, peanut and tree nut free.  While their pizza and salad menu can accommodate most food allergies, the desert option does contain milk and egg as a heads up for people with those allergies.  Also if you have a soy allergy both the main course pizzas and the gluten free options have it as an ingredient so this probably isn't a restaurant for you. All in all though, nk pizza does a very nice job of trying to be an accessible restaurant for most people with food allergies based upon all the variations of this medical condition.  They also provide a very thorough allergen alert listing on their menu to assist consumers with food sensitivities.

When dining in while you are waiting for your order to be prepared have some fun playing the word find game by the cash register.  If you can find all 20 words you can get 10% off a future order!

If you don't feel like going out for dinner, nkd pizza delivers.  They will bring your meal to you for just a $1.50 delivery charge + optional driver tip.  Currently there are two Metro Detroit locations, Sterling Heights and Shelby Township, with plans for additional restaurants in the near future.  Both the Shelby Twp. and Sterling Heights restaurants will deliver within a 2 mile radius of their location.

nkd pizza isn't marketing itself as a gluten free or food allergy friendly restaurant.  It's focus is being a healthy eating destination and part of that motif is making sure their food is accessible and edible for as many people as possible.  So you don't need to have a food allergy to find a visit worthwhile! Their being proactive to these constituencies is a value added bonus to the restaurant's commitment to a health-conscious menu.

nkd pizza delivers, not just to your home or office, but in providing great tasting food with a focus on fresh, natural ingredients that people with a variety of food allergies can feel comfortable  partaking in.  The best part about the place though is that my family just flat out enjoyed our meal during this family night dining out. For more information, sign up for their e-club which will send information about promotions and special insider perks to your email inbox by visiting www.nkdpizza.com/eclub.

A Geek Daddy was invited to nkd pizza for a complimentary family dinner and tour of the newly opened Sterling Heights location to assist with facilitating a blog review.  Opinions expressed in this review are honest and my own.

P.S. nkd stands for "Naked" because the pizzas are au naturale when it comes to their preparation and ingredients.

Skip the touristy spots & dine where the locals eat out while on vacation

 When you enter a town known as a vacation destination it can be easy to bust your family's budget on meals with hyped up prices from restaurants looking to cash in on visiting tourists.  If you want to enjoy dining out while on vacation but also need to be a budget conscious traveler consider skipping the touristy spots and find out the establishments the locals frequent.  These diners, restaurants, and taverns will often provide you a taste of what makes the community appealing to the people who live there and a menu that's priced more down to earth to be affordable to the locals who make an average living servicing all the tourists who are in town.  Plus often times you may just find something delicious and unique to eat or drink as these establishments provide something produced locally or that caters to local tastes.

So where do you find out where the locals hang out?  Well you don't want to find out through the visitor magazines and pamphlets that promote a town because those tend to be all sponsored editorials and ads where you'll most likely find some of that advertising expense added into the cost of your dinner tab.  Also beware that often times hotels and resorts get commissions or have referral deals with local establishments looking to cash in on visiting tourists.  One way I often get tips on the best places to eat while on vacation is by picking up some postcards and taking them to the local post office to mail to friends and family.  Instead of just throwing the post cards in a mail box or slot though, I go up to the counter to buy some stamps and strike up a conversation with the person working the counter about interesting things to do and best places to eat at while in town.  I always get great suggestions that help filter out which places are truly worth while to visit and which ones are primarily tourist traps.  Another good spot to get some honest advice of what the locals think about area restaurants is to swing by a grocery store to pick up some snacks.  While you are doing your shopping ask some of the staff where they frequent and which restaurants they'd recommend to their friends and family.  Speaking of friends and family, post online through social media that you are thinking of visiting a particular place and ask if anyone has been there or knows people there that could give you some recommendations.  Then Yelp their suggestions.  Just don't post when you are actually going because you don't want to worry about who knows who seeing that information and returning home to find your house cleared out by some robbers who knew you were out of town.

During a family vacation to Traverse City which has a reputation for being a premiere Michigan summer travel destination, we decided to look into where the locals go to eat out.  We found that a lot of the places where diners or taverns because these have traditionally been the places that stayed up all year long rather than reducing hours or closing up in the winter when the tourists are primarily gone.  If you happen to head that way for a Michigan Up North adventure, check out these fine places:

The Jolly Pumpkin

With its housemade white fish dip for an appetizer and bison sloppy joes for a lunch or dinner this restaurant has a unique menu that for being part of a brewery is very family friendly.  The barn like decor of the building gives visitors a Sleepy Hollow vibe as they enjoy their meals.  The atmosphere and food make this a delightful spot to enjoy a memorable meal.  The restaurant is tied to a brewery which provides some great beer selections to enjoy during a meal but I'd suggest giving their hard cider a taste which is brewed from apples harvested from an on-site orchard.  I'd also note that during our visit we had exceptional service and they even went out of their way to make something special for my picky eater son when he didn't particularly care for anything on the menu.

The Jolly Pumpkin is a bit out of the way from many of the normal tourist spots as it located mid-way up Old Mission Peninsula in a rural spot that is somewhat of a haul to get to from where most of the downtown and beach activities are at.  It is a scenic drive to The Jolly Pumpkin with some great views of Grand Traverse Bay and a nice way to unwind while you are on a vacation getaway by taking the drive over there.  The quickest route is to take M-37 straight there from downtown Traverse City but I'd highly recommend meandering along Peninsula Drive enjoying the wonderful scenery along this path instead.

The Cottage

This casual and comfortable diner is located along M-31 just west of the Traverse City State Park. The Cottage's specialty is All You Can Eat Freshwater Perch which it has been serving for more than 20 years. It caught our attention because it seemed to be the place a lot of seniors were going to eat which normally means good food at affordable prices.  We weren't disappointed!

They have great deals when it comes to Kids Meals which range in price from $3 to $5 dollars.  My kids received generous portions and really devoured their meals which they only do when what they are eating is really good.  So this was a really great deal when it comes to families with kids looking to eat out.  It just wasn't the kids who enjoyed their meals though.  I ordered the meatloaf which The Cottage brags is based on a family recipe.  It was loaded with mashed potatoes, gravy and fried onions and I literally was licking my plate off as I finished off my meal it was that good.

Pangea's Pizza

Located on Front Street in the heart of Traverse City this wonderful pizzeria creates pizza pies from its own housemade dough and locally supplied ingredients that is a perfect meal for a hungry family on vacation.  They still hand-toss the pizzas as they get the dough ready for the oven and each one is handcrafted with sauce and toppings.  No pulling a ready made pizza out of the freezer and throwing it in the oven here.  The restaurant has a great downtown vibe to it and is a fun place to hang out while enjoying a meal.  It does have limited seating though and is a popular place that tends to have a line and crowd to get in.  If you don't feel like eating at Pangea's they offer carry out so you can order ahead and just pick it up to eat at the beach or the place you are staying.  We enjoyed the pizza so much that we went back the day our family was leaving town to bring one back with us to eat when we got home as a final reminder of our great Up North trip to Traverse City, Michigan.

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We weren't able to hit everyplace that locals recommended we go to during our vacation but here are a few more places we want to visit the next time we make it to Traverse City:

Sleder's Family Tavern

Built in 1882 by a Bohemian wheelwright named Vencil Sleder this is the oldest continually operated restaurant in the state of Michigan.   Among the hunting trophies and stuffed animals that decorate the place is a moose named Randolph and it is a local tradition to KISS THE MOOSE FOR LUCK.  With a tin ceiling, hardwood floors and more than a century old mahogany bar  this place seems like it will really take you back in time to the lumberjack days gone by of the region during a visit.  In fact the tavern is located in a neighborhood called Slabtown which is an old working class district of the city where the houses were built with slabs of scrap wood salvaged from the local sawmills.

Little Bohemia

This tavern the locals call Lil Bo's started off as a hot dog stand that was the cover for a secret speakeasy during Prohibition.  The second oldest tavern in Traverse City after Sleder's it was named in honor of the Bohemian community that settled in this part of the state.  The place is know for its great "sammiches" , olive burgers, eggplant, gnocchi and lasagna plus some Bohemian recipe house specials.

Round's

Is a breakfast joint that locals praise for its homemade hash.  Hash, hash, hash when someone speaks about Round's that is about all that comes out of their smiling mouths.  If you enjoy a good breakfast it appears that Round's is the place to go and is a popular hang out spot of the local residents.  My insider's tip is to order the Red Velvet Hash Omelet but I've head lots of good things about almost everything else on the menu too especially from the helpful lady I spoke to at the post office.  Only downside is that it appears to be a small space and not always easy to get a seat.

Ham-Bonz 

Talk about a tiny, quaint place to eat, Ham-Bonz serves up smoked ham, turkey, beef and pulled pork for enormous omelets and sandwiches cooked up from a backyard pit grill.  I've been told this is the closest thing to pure Southern BBQ you'll find outside of the Mississippi Delta.  My wife and I love pulled pork so we absolutely have to get around to checking this place out.