Restaurant Review: Lock Stock Coffee
LOCK STOCK COFFEE 10534 Jasper Avenue ~ lockstockcoffee.com Instagram: @lockstockcoffee ~ Twitter: @LockStockCoffee Co-Diner: Tim Golem
One of my secret obsessions is BLT sandwiches. (Except that it's not a secret because I talk about it all the time.) So simple! So classic! So when I heard that Lock Stock Coffee is known for their extra special BLT sandwich, I had to try it. They're also known to be a wonderful cafe - Avenue Magazine award them Best Cafe 2020. What's not to love about that? I was excited to head Downtown to check them out and to try all of the things. You'll find Lock Stock right on Jasper Ave, right in the heart of the downtown core. In fact, they're two businesses in one. Cafe by day as Lock Stock Coffee and bar by night as Red Star Pub. This type of arrangement is a bit of a trend these days and you'll find these types of businesses more and more. It makes sense. Why not maximize the space and earning potential? You enter the cafe by going down the stairs to the bottom portion of the building. Inside, you are met with a moody room that you can certainly picture in the nighttime hours as a pub - complete with a well-stocked bar. However, the space doubles as a lovely cafe quite well. The walls are brightened up with white subway tile and the small cafe "window" is complete with a glass case full of baking. The rest of the room is the epitome of dark wood and exposed brick. However, I did also see some flashy white marble here and there. The vibe makes you feel like this place is a cool underground secret. You feel hip coming here. The first thing that I was going to do is order a coffee, of course. I'm a big fan of the Mocha ($5.00) so I went straight for that.
Lock Stock uses coffee from Ace Coffee Roasters, a roaster hailing from right here in Edmonton. This was a good mocha! The coffee itself wasn't too strong, however I wished that the chocolate flavour had been a little bit more pronounced and playful. Not the best mocha that I've ever had, but certainly not the worst. A decent coffee beverage. There are a surprising amount of food offerings available; from English Muffin Sandwiches to Focaccia Sandwiches. They also do Biscuit Sandwiches on the weekend. All of these breads are completely housemade which makes them extra special and wonderful. There are also options that range from frittatas, tartines, and quiche, so there are quite a lot of things to try. Of course I went straight for the Lock Stock BLT Focaccia Sandwich ($12.00), however they have an english muffin version as well.
Not quite a straight-up traditional BLT, I loved the direction that they took this version into. The bacon was nice and crispy (so important!) and the arugula was fresh. I thought that the use of tomato jam was such an interesting way to incorporate the tomato component and it added a delicate sweetness. The huge star was the focaccia bread, which was pure magic. This bread was pillowy soft with a glorious chew and a beautiful crumb. The outside was beautifully caramelized adding some wonderful texture. I'm assuming that any sandwich that they make on this focaccia is pretty special (they do four types) because the bread is just that good. However, this BLT sandwich truly is "the one." Wanting to try something completely different, I also ordered the Lox & Egg English Muffin Sandwich ($8.50).
I was mostly curious about the english muffin because you don't find housemade versions of them all that often. This sandwich packs a very dill-flavoured punch, which makes sense because salmon and dill are such good friends. The lox itself was very nice and somewhat unexpected. This is not your grocery store package of smoked salmon. Instead, this lox is thick-sliced and tastes very fresh. It's more like eating a beautiful, tender slice of smoky salmon and less like the typical kind that you'll find anywhere. The whole thing is gooey and wonderful. The english muffin was extra special, so much better than store-bought. Lastly, I'd heard that the bakery items at Lock Stock are very good and they seem to specialize in making Kouign Amann ($3.75). (Although all of the items in the pastry case looked beautiful.)
Layers and layers of light, buttery dough, filled with sugar. The thing about kouign amann that makes it special is what happens to the sugar. Much of it becomes so caramelized that it creates a glass not unlike that of a crème brûlée. The warm layers of pasty were crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, intermingling with the sugary shards throughout. An excellent example of this classic treat. The food offerings at Lock Stock Coffee are very good. They have positioned themselves above the rest by literally making everything in-house and the quality achieved in doing so is extremely evident. If you're ever in the need of a quick hand-held breakfast, I can think of no better place.
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