The only thing that could top the pride Bryce Shuman felt after receiving a three-star review from The New York Times is the pride he feels watching his mother enjoy his food at Betony. Not that he takes good reviews for granted.

In fact, Shuman is the type of chef who does not take anything for granted.

Food was always important to Shuman’s family. As he was growing up in North Carolina, he and his mother, Kristen Borre, made a habit of cooking together in the kitchen. Setting the table, making the salad (Greek was his specialty), and cleaning up after dinner were his daily responsibilities. Dinner was more than just about getting sustenance during those formative years. Dinner was, and still is for him, about creating a conversation on the plate.

When his mother realized 15 years ago that she suffered from gluten intolerance, Shuman had long been out of the house and was no long relegated to being the family salad chef. He had learned a lot through experiences abroad, in highly acclaimed restaurants, and at the California Culinary Academy.

An advocate of elevating the sum of his refined ingredients to much greater than the individual parts, Shuman earned accolades at Postrio, Rubicon, and eventually Eleven Madison Park, where he worked for six years under Chef Daniel Humm.

In May 2013, Shuman opened Betony with fellow Eleven Madison Park alumni, Eamon Rockey.

Shuman’s experiences at Eleven Madison Park and his kitchen table in North Carolina emphasized the same virtues — food should make people happy. The experience of dining should be more than just what ends up on the plate.

A strong proponent of going out of his way to fulfill the special requests of any customers, Shuman took it one step further when it came to his own mother’s gluten intolerance.

“Everything on the menu at Betony can be made gluten-free,” he explained. “It was important to me when we opened that we offered different options for people who may have a gluten intolerance like my mother. I wanted her to be able to eat here.”

After eating at Betony for the first time, Kristen was overwhelmed to learn that she was the inspiration for the gluten-free menu. “I’m so impressed with his love and care for me. He didn’t have to do that. I live in Chicago and I am only in town twice a year,” she said.

Although his mom inspired the menu, other people have come to benefit from the gluten-free alternatives.

“I feel like when people come to the restaurant and they have different aversions, sometimes they feel like they’re going to burden the kitchen. We want to be accommodating when it comes to making these guests feel welcome. So if eating gluten is not something that you can do in your diet, I don’t want you to feel like you’re burdening me.”

Both Shuman and Rockey share this philosophy and have the highest respect for their guests. Like Shuman, Rockey came from a foodie family; both of his parents were professional chefs.

Having worked in kitchens since he was 14 years old and later attending the Culinary Institute of America, Rockey thought he’d be in whites for the rest of his life. But after spending some time in the dining room, he realized he loved the interactions he had with guests. He now focuses his attention behind the bar where he leverages flavors to tell stories using more obscure ingredients like kola, bergamot tea, and Thai chili.

“You know, there’s thought and time invested in each of these individual ingredients. And they have a story,” he explained.

“I don’t just look at the bar as a series of bottles to figure out what combination we’re going alchemize them into and shake it up and make it look fun and pretty, but rather, we start with the story.”

The story on this cold night is all about cooking with restrictions and how sometimes foregoing key ingredients can lead to very inspirational dishes. Shuman and Rockey are creating a meal for their significant others and their moms. The menu is gluten- and alcohol-free, since Rockey’s mother, Judith, doesn’t drink alcohol.

“To avoid [gluten and alcohol] is a major hindrance to many people. But for us it becomes another opportunity to try to think constructively about how to surpass someone’s expectations within basic and major confines,” Rockey said.

A gluten-free and alcohol-free meal need not be an inferior meal. Shuman and Rockey make sure of that. At the end of the meal, all six of them have made the clean-plate club, and that’s something both moms can take pride in.