The honest disclaimer first
The Malt Shop is not a gluten-free kitchen. We make burgers, sandwiches, and fried food in a small space with a shared grill, a shared fryer, and a shared prep area. We offer gluten-free buns, and we take reasonable precautions when someone tells us they need to avoid gluten, but we cannot guarantee a completely gluten-free product. If you have celiac disease or a severe wheat allergy, please read this page carefully, tell the person taking your order clearly and specifically what you need, and make the decision that's right for you. We will do everything we can to help, but the final call should be yours.
What follows is an honest list of what's safe for most gluten-sensitive diners, what's risky, and what's off the table. We update it whenever the menu changes, but the kitchen is the final authority — ask when you order.
What's reliably gluten-free
These items don't contain gluten ingredients and are prepared in a way that minimizes cross-contact:
- Burgers without a bun. Our beef patties are 100% ground beef with salt and pepper — no fillers, no binders, no breadcrumbs. Order any burger "no bun" and it will come as a patty (or two) with toppings on a plate. This is the safest full-meal option for gluten-sensitive diners, and it's genuinely good.
- Grilled chicken sandwich (no bun). Same principle. The chicken breast is marinated but not breaded, and it's grilled on the same surface as the burgers. Order it without a bun.
- Side salad. Iceberg, tomato, cucumber, croutons on the side (ask them to leave the croutons off, or leave them out entirely for a completely gluten-free salad). The dressings — ranch, Italian, and blue cheese — are all commercially prepared and don't contain gluten ingredients, but check with the counter if you're particularly sensitive to thickeners.
- Hot dogs without a bun. Our hot dogs are all-beef franks with no fillers. The bun is the only gluten in the standard order.
- Cheese. Sliced American and Swiss, straight from the package. No gluten.
- Ice cream and malts. This surprises people, but our ice cream is gluten-free, and the malt powder itself — despite the name — is usually gluten-free (it's made from malted barley, which contains gluten, but the amount in a single malt is very small; this is a gray area, see below). Fresh fruit syrups, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream are all gluten-free.
- Most sodas, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Nothing on the drink menu has gluten except the malts, and even those are debatable.
The malt question
People ask about malts more than anything else, so let's address it directly. The malt powder we use — the ingredient that makes a malt a malt — is made from malted barley, which is a gluten-containing grain. The powder is highly processed, and most of the barley protein is removed during manufacturing, but it is not certified gluten-free and the FDA's standards for "gluten-free" labeling do not apply to it. In practice, the amount of gluten in a single malt is very small — a few parts per million at most — and many gluten-sensitive diners drink them without issue. But for someone with celiac disease, "very small" is not the same as "zero," and we don't want to tell you something that isn't true.
Our recommendation: If you're gluten-sensitive but not celiac, a malt is probably fine, and we'll make it however you like. If you have celiac disease or a severe wheat allergy, order a shake instead — same ice cream, same flavorings, no malt powder. A shake is functionally a malt without the gluten, and most people can't tell the difference anyway. If you want the malt flavor without the barley, ask for a "malt flavor" shake and we'll add a little malted milk flavoring (which is corn-based) instead. It's not quite the same, but it's close.
What's risky (shared equipment)
These items don't contain gluten in their ingredients but are prepared in shared equipment, which means cross-contact is possible:
- French fries. Our fries are cut fresh from whole potatoes and contain no gluten ingredients. They're fried in the same fryer as the onion rings and the breaded fish, however, so cross-contact is a real concern. If you're celiac, you should probably avoid them. If you're gluten-sensitive but not celiac, most people eat them without issue.
- Tater tots. Same story — the tots themselves are usually gluten-free, but they share a fryer.
- Grilled cheese (without the bread). The cheese is gluten-free, but the grill is shared. Not recommended for celiac diners.
- BLT, club sandwich, fish sandwich. All contain bread. Skip unless you're ordering without the bun, and even then, the fillings are prepared near bread.
- Cheese fries, chili cheese fries. The fries are the problem, not the toppings. See above.
- Onion rings. Breaded. Not safe for anyone avoiding gluten.
What's off the table
These items contain gluten and cannot be made gluten-free:
- The standard bun on every burger and sandwich. It's a traditional white bun and it's not gluten-free.
- Grilled cheese, BLT, club sandwich, fish sandwich as normally served.
- Onion rings. Breaded.
- Apple pie (crust), chocolate chip cookie, and any baked good.
- Most of the malted milk powder — see the malt question above.
Gluten-free buns
We keep gluten-free buns in the freezer for anyone who asks. They're a standard commercial gluten-free bun — udis or a similar brand, depending on what's available — and we toast them in a dedicated toaster in the back. They're not the same as a regular bun, but they hold a burger together and taste fine, and they make the difference between "I can eat here" and "I can't."
There's no upcharge for a gluten-free bun. Just ask when you order. If we're out — which happens occasionally on busy weekends — we'll tell you, and we'll suggest the no-bun option instead. Please don't be shy about asking; we'd rather you ask and get what you need than not ask and leave disappointed.
How to order safely
The single most important thing you can do is tell the person taking your order that you need to avoid gluten. Say it clearly, say it early, and be specific about the level of concern — "I have celiac" is different from "I try to avoid gluten," and it changes what we do in the kitchen. If you tell us you have celiac, we'll change gloves, use a clean grill surface for your patty, and plate your food separately. If you tell us you're gluten-sensitive, we'll do most of those things, but we won't go quite as far, because the risk is lower and the speed cost is real on a busy night.
If you're ordering takeout online, use the notes field to say "gluten-free — celiac" or "gluten-free — sensitive" and we'll see it when we pull your order. But the online system can't change gloves or clean the grill for you — that happens when a human reads the note and acts on it. If you're not sure the note got through, call us. We'd rather have the extra conversation.
And if you're ever uncertain, ask. The person behind the counter has been doing this long enough to know what's in everything, and if they don't know the answer they'll ask the kitchen. Nobody here will be annoyed by the question. It's a good question, and it deserves a straight answer.
A final note
We're a small diner in a small town, and we're not a specialty gluten-free restaurant. We do our best, and we've gotten good at it over the years, but we want to be honest about the limits. If you have severe celiac disease and need a completely gluten-free environment, we might not be the right choice for you on a busy Saturday night — but on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, with a heads-up when you order, we can usually make it work. Call ahead if you're unsure. We'll tell you the truth.