REVIEW | FARROW (124 ST) | EDMONTON

Studies have shown that sandwiches taste better when someone else makes them. Yes, it's not just you. That might explain why Farrow is such a hit with Edmontonians (particularly of the hipster variety).

Farrow's origin story began in 2014 in the Garneau neighbourhood. A daytime offshoot of Three Boars Eatery, Farrow became a casual grab-and-go place slinging made-to-order sandwiches, doughnuts, and pour-over coffee. Since then, they've opened two other locations, one in Ritchie and more recently, another on 124th street.   

Is it blasphemous to say that I've never had a Farrow sandwich until just recently? Well, I am deprived no longer. During the holiday break, I met up with MH for a quick bite at their 124th Street shop.

It's a small store, but it suffices for a primarily take-out operation. If you do decide to eat in (like we did), there's a few stools at the window counter along with a bench for waiting customers.

On the menu, Farrow offers about five sandwich options everyday. There are two mainstays that never leave the menu -- the grick middle and the chief beef. The three other sandwiches are rotating specials, including a meat option, a vegan option, and a "trick'd grick," which is a staff member's take on their signature sandwich. Farrow also bakes up an assortment of goodies everyday, everything from doughnuts and cronuts to brownies and muffins.

Once we ordered, it took about five-ish minutes for our sandwiches to be ready. They come wrapped up in butcher paper and sealed with an identifying sticker.

MH went with the Greekwood Mac ($12.00), which is their current vegan option. A Portuguese roll stuffed with balsamic tofu, roasted Mediterranean veggie slaw, avjar (roasted red pepper spread), olive tapenade, tomato, and arugula. It was a messy sandwich with lots of components but MH seemed to enjoy it a lot. Some of the ingredients were falling out onto the paper as she ate, but MH thought of it as a nice bonus salad.

I went for Farrow's signature sandwich, the grick middle ($8.50). A breakfast sandwich at heart, the name is a play on the McGriddle, as the original Farrow in Garneau is located right across a McDonald's. In the same Portuguese roll, there's a fried egg (complete with a soft yolk), crispy strips of bacon, smoked cheddar, arugula, rosemary aioli, and a base spread of tomato jam. The tomato jam is sweet which pairs well with the other salty and savoury elements. The sharpness of the fresh arugula also helps to balance out the creaminess of the yolk and aioli. I did find that the sandwich wasn't super filling, particularly because the Portuguese roll they use is so soft and airy, but that just means extra room for dessert!

Next time you're hankering for a sandwich that tastes better than the ones you make, let the fine folk at Farrow handle that for you.

Farrow

farrowsandwiches.ca
(multiple locations)
10240 124 ST
Edmonton, AB
(780) 249-0085

- CT

REVIEW | FOX BURGER | EDMONTON

It seemed like the whole city was in collective mourning when the news broke. All five locations of Red Robin would be closing their doors in December. No more freckled lemonades or bottomless steak fries to be had. Regardless, the world moves on. Plenty of other delicious burgers in the city to drown your sorrows in.

One of the newer (and proudly local!) burger establishments that's been generating some buzz is Fox Burger. Brought to you by the same folks behind Elm Cafe (now Speedy's Cantina), District Cafe, and Little Brick, Fox Burger is one of the three new businesses now occupying the heritage building of Gibbard Block in the Highlands neighbourhood. The other two include a boutique liquor store and Jewish-inspired deli, June's Delicatessen. 

The renovation of the historic building was quite the undertaking, but the community came out in full support. The Kickstarter campaign, launched back in September 2018, raised over $100,000! Now a year later, the doors are finally open and ready to serve.

Fox Burger is open 6 days a week (closed Tuesdays), from 5-11pm, not including their brunch service on the weekends. SC and I met up on a Friday night, right when they opened. We were already met with a small line but thankfully the restaurant now takes reservations for those who can't there as early as we did. Parking is also readily available, free up and down 112th Ave, as well as across the street in their leased parking lot.

The room is a simple rectangle with an open layout. It's a bit sparse in decoration, but it's quite cozy with the lights dimmed. On Friday night, there was a good mix of families, couples, and groups of friends just hanging out.

As for the menu, it's fairly straightforward. Burgers take precedence of course, with four beef options, one fish, one chicken, and two veggie burgers. There's a small selection of appetizers, salads, and sides to choose from, along with a special kid's menu. They've also recently started doing daily specials, such as $12 burgers on Mondays and half priced bottles of wine on Wednesdays.

I was one of their backers on Kickstarter, so my reward was a "dinner for two." Two drinks, two burgers with sides, and two desserts. 

Their drink menu is a curated selection of local beers, wine, cocktails, sodas, and milkshakes. Both SC and I opted for the latter. Her salted caramel apple shake ($7.00) was sweet and fruity, while my vanilla chai shake ($7.00) had plenty of warm spice. Both milkshakes were the ideal texture -- thick enough but easily slurpable. (Maybe too easy. We were getting full even before our burgers came out!)

All of their burgers are ground in-house and made to order. The patties are prepared in classic "smash burger" fashion where the beef is quite literally smashed onto the flat top. In doing so, the burger gets a nice even sear. Crispy edges are developed all along its circumference and the caramelized crust helps to lock juices in. The only downside to smash burgers is a thinner patty, so if it's not enough meat for you, there's always the option to add an extra patty for $4.00.

For our first burger, we opted for their most popular seller -- the bacon pepper smash ($16.00). Smash sauce, pickled peppers, bacon, iceberg lettuce, and American cheddar, all sandwiched between a classic sesame seed bun.

While the other ingredients are quite classic, I liked the ingenuity of the pickled peppers. They added freshness and a good crunch. The other standout for me was the smash sauce -- creamy and tangy with a small kick. 

The other burger we tried was the ahi tuna club ($18.00). The ahi tuna was grilled rare, and accompanied with bacon, tomato jam, pickled peppers, lemon aioli, and iceberg lettuce. Everything tasted fresh but I felt like the tuna was somewhat lost here. We both preferred the beef burger over this one. 

Burgers also come with a side of your choice. The house garlic fries is the only one that doesn't come with a surcharge. Hand-cut and skin-on, the fries are crispy and garlicky. They also come in a generous pile on your plate.

We upgraded one of the sides to the rotini & cheese (+$3.00). A slightly elevated mac & cheese with 3-cheese mornay sauce, scallions, crispy fried onions, and rotini noodles. The spiral nature of rotini helps trap more sauce within its ridges but SC found there wasn't enough sauce to coat the noodles. It was a bit on the dry side for her.

We were pretty much bursting at the seams at this point, but we still had dessert to power through! The lemon curd and blackberry ice cream sandwich ($8.00) was a refreshing choice. Lemon curd and blackberry jam semifreddo, sandwiched between two poppyseed macaron cookies. We were both hoping for more blackberries in the ice cream, but I think we just drew the short straw when it came to our slice.

Our final bite of the night was the apple pie with cinnamon ice cream and salted caramel ($8.00). Flaky crust, warm jammy apples, and cold, smooth ice cream. The perfect finishing touch was that drizzle of sweet, sweet caramel. If you have enough room for dessert, this is the one.




What does the fox say? It's telling you to eat here.

Fox Burger

www.foxburger.ca

6423 112 Ave NW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 250-0369

- CT