Christina VarvisIn a brief two years of existence, Farrow has sandwiched itself among the best restaurants and cafes Edmonton. With rotating lists of sandwiches, coffees and a playful staff, Farrow has been cementing its position as the place to go for breakfast, lunch, or hangover cure. At the helm of this tiny cafe are Justin Benson and Laine Cherkewick, as they navigate the seemingly endless lines of customers.
“The weekends are crazy, actually most days are crazy,” Cherkewick says.
Just off of Whyte Ave on 109 street is a peculiar building that sits across from the golden arches of McDonalds. Between stucco and stone walls sits a blue door and most times of the day, that door is wide open with a line spilling out onto the sidewalk. Edmontontians have picked up what Farrow has to offer.
“We have a ton of repeat customers. Most of the time people come in and they will come in again and again and again. We don’t really have any one offs, other than someone who will come on a Saturday once and think it’s too crazy,” says Benson
Cherkewick runs the sandwich side that features the staple Grick Middle sandwich, loaded with a fried egg, bacon, cheddar and arugula.
“For the Grick Middle, when we started this one of our biggest pet peeves is Mcdoanlds cutting their breakfast off so early, so if we’re going to do this we’re going to have a breakfast sandwich that goes all day,“ says Cherkewick
The Grick is the only sandwich that’s permanently on the menu, while the other sandwiches are in constant rotation. Cherkewick and Benson are constantly experimenting with different recipes, creating sandwiches that range from meat-loaded monstrosities with any combination of roast beef, ham, bologna, or pulled pork; to vegan delights (which are always an option) with fried cauliflower, pumpkin or eggplant. Whatever the creation, it’s always guaranteed to have a pun-laden name from “Bologny Island” to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundried Kid.”
“We’re so into what’s going on in the cooking world, anything new comes out, new cookbook, new show on Netflix, we’re watching it or talking about it and for us to go to work and make it into a sandwich,” says Benson.
While Cherkewick takes care of business on the sandwich side, you can find Benson commanding the coffee front that features pre-brewed coffee as well as the uncommon pourover option. Pourover coffee involves patience as you pour boiling water over freshly ground coffee beans and wait for your coffee to slowly drip.
Though Edmontonians are prone to wanting their coffee fast, the pour over method is a longer process, which yields a coffee with a more complex flavor.
Just like their sandwiches Farrow elects to rotate through their coffee, roasters such as Flat Track from Austin and Panama from Seattle provide farrow with new blends to keep coffee lovers coming back. If you elect to try out their “slow” pourover coffee, make sure to avoid milk.
“We tailor our fast coffee for people who want to put milk in their coffee so it’s a little more milk chocolate-y. Most of our pour overs are quite fruity or quite acidic, so the milk is just going to cancel that our entirely. So It’s more expensive, an extra four minutes, and you’re not going to get much more out of it.” says Benson.
Farrow also hosts a coffee club which now boasts around 40 members. Farrow’s coffee club works with high-end roasters to give members a different bag of coffee every month.
“It’s like a subscription. We just worked with Cut Coffee from Toronto; they gave us a really nice, naturally processed Ethiopian. Which was like blueberry muffin,” Benson says.
Though Farrow boasts impressive sandwiches and coffees, a lot of the cafes appeal to the community can be attributed to the environment that the staff creates. Whenever you walk into the bedroom sized café, you can be sure to see smiling staff bantering back and forth, and music ranging from Slayer to R. Kelly. Cherkewick attributes the fun atmosphere for the success of the business.
“It’s almost our charm, sometimes you come in and can’t even talk to your friend because we have black metal blaring. We’re having fun and it goes onto the customers. A lot of the time people just sit there and watch us make fun of each other.”
