1900 Barker Bakery And Cafe

1900 barker. A place that smells like your grandma has been baking all day long. A place that warms your heart and fills your tummy. A place where the delectable, gorgeous latte tastes as good as it looks and a loaf of bread only lasts you a day because it’s so delicious. This is one of my favorite Lawrence places that I come from KC just to visit. Plus, the brothers who own the place are always sweet, gracious, and inspiring. Now go eat some bread and drink some coffee!

Only bread, pastries, maybe some quiche, and coffees/​teas available here, no real food, so think «European» style café, not the American variety where you can find a sandwich, soup, or more on the menu. And I thought the other popular bakeries in town were expensive — if you live in Lawrence, you know which two I am thinking about — until I stopped by 1900 Barker this morning. Seating is extremely limited as well, so if you hope to sit down… take a number and wait your turn.
I had heard they were «a bit pricey», but that is an understatement! I paid $ 9 ($ 8.50+tax) for a loaf of (burnt) apple, raisin, walnut wheat bread, the most I have spent in my life in any of the 41 countries I have visited, including Switzerland where everything is overpriced, for a loaf of bread. Seems rather excessive to me. The bread was «OK», other than the obvious taste of burntness on the crust, with the inside being soft and moist, almost too moist as if it needed a couple more minutes in the oven. When paying $ 9 for a loaf of bread, it had better be perfect and delicious, but this bread was neither. How do you burn the outside and still leave the inside undercooked. The loaf did not hold up well to a knife either, caving and crumbling as I sliced. Makes me think the «baker» is either experimenting or inexperienced.
I saw several other reviews complaining about the bread being not cooked enough and too expensive among other things, yet 1900 Barker is consistently awarded 4 or 5 Stars. I believe «5 Stars» are given out willy-​nilly by far too many reviewers, but my ratings are based on «value», hence the name of my blog: «TravelValue», what you get in terms of quality, service and price. So based on their absurd prices alone, I cannot give them more than 4 Bombs (2 Stars), especially when I take into account that the bread was burnt, even more so on the bottom than the top, too moist inside and falls apart when sliced.
I hope they succeed, I really do. I hate for any business to fail (with a couple of exceptions in Lawrence, but that’s another review or two), particularly when they have large sums invested in a venture (the place used to be a run down laundromat). However, after the trendiness and novelty wear off, I believe people will require more value and better quality for their dollar. So, unless they bring their prices back down to Earth and stop burning the bread, I unfortunately do not see this venture being a long-​term success. The lack of parking alone will turn many customers away because the parking lot only holds five or six cars max and Barker and 19^th are far too narrow to allow too many cars on the street.
CombatCritic Gives 1900 Barker Bakery And Café 4 Bombs Out Of 10 … More Bombs Are Better!
4 Bombs (2 Stars) Equates To A Military Rating Of: «BOHICA» … Read the translation on my blog civilians!

The best bakery I have ever tried. Beats Fevere and IBIS. He takes around 30 hours to sprout, dehydrate then grind his own grain. The coffee especially the cortadas are dream worthy. Regan and Taylor are warm and inviting. Everyone knows your name!

Probably the best croissants in Lawrence and way up there for the KC market too. Breads are fantastic too. Its a great, out of the way place to have a peaceful breakfast. Be prepared though to bring some bucks… its not cheap. If it were more affordable I would give it five stars. That said, I will go back… just not every week or weekend. It’ll be a special treat bakery instead of competition for the better grocery stores, Costco, and even Wheatfields.

Years drinking espresso and I can say this is the best place to have one. Also, they make bread that will help you live 100 years the way it was supposed to be: dense and nutritious; not that crap other bakery sell without an ounce of nutrients. These guys are truly artisan! And, the atmosphere and decoration is superb.

Another win for Lawrence. A bakery. With talent. And delicious coffee. Loud music and nice atmosphere and people. Pricey. Really pricey. And there is nowhere comfortable to sit, just some stools and counter spaces.

If you love great croissants, bread, and coffee, come here!
Ok, so when Michelangelo Buonarroti drops into your neighborhood and starts offering hand painted postcards and hand sculpted yard ornaments, you need to get there early and often so he keeps churning out the arts. If you appreciate the fine art of baking, 1900 Barker is the new artisan workshop you should be frequenting.
Everything is good. We shared three baked goods and their bread samples and each one was an unqualified hit.
If you like yourself, treat yourself (I have no advice for the rest of you.)

I have a love/​hate relationship with 1900 Barker.
That’s not entirely true — so I suppose I should explain.
Love: They have the best coffee in Lawrence, hands down. Their summer galettes (little pie-​like pastries) are incredible. The croissants are out of this world. He ambiance of the bakery is simple, elegant and fits the neighborhood perfectly. The two guys who run the place seem to know more about coffee and bread than any two people I have ever met. Their passion for their products is unlike any shop owner I have ever seen. It’s the type of place where you go in for coffee and leave with the best bread and pastries you’ve ever had, because they are nearly impossible to resist.
Hate: they taught me what coffee and bread is supposed to taste like, and now I find myself comparing everyone else to their products. Unfortunately, nothing else around here lives up to their products. In the grand scheme of things, I suppose that’s a good thing!

I am so glad to see this bakery in the neighborhood where it is. Definitely enhances the urban experience of eastern Lawrence.
I want to talk about the bread. I love that they use locally grown wheat (it’s Kansas, duh! How long did it take us to figure out how to use what is growing in our back yards?) and mill a lot of it themselves. The bread is flavorful and has that extra yum. But. The bread is not properly baked. We have gotten bread 3 – 4 different times since the bakery opened. Every time, it has been underdone in the middle. You go to slice the loaf, and the whole thing collapses; it doesn’t stand up to the knife. And sure enough, it is just a tad gooey inside. If you’re going to take the time to love the ingredients so much, you need to prepare it correctly. It is very frustrating! The raisin/​walnut doesn’t have this problem, because the raisins and walnuts hold up the interior structure.
I can’t leave this review without pointing out something: a loaf of bread at 1900 Bakery costs $ 8! I have never in my life paid so much for bread. We would eat a loaf a week with a meal, but at that price, we are once-​a-​month (at best) potential customers. I hope that over time, they will find a way to make costs more efficient. I don’t know how that is sustainable over time — particularly with Wheatfields (who also uses local heirloom flour, btw) at literally half the price per loaf.
It’s a cool little joint, but please give us this day, our daily bread baked properly and at a more reasonable price.

Watch out Starbucks! This little gem is a newly opened bakery and coffee shop located in east Lawrence. The breads and pastries are the best I’ve tasted outside of France! Honestly! According to co-​owners Taylor and Reagan Petrehn, they source their as much of their fruits, vegetables and grains locally as possible. Their delicious breads are even half-​milled in-​house! The espressos and cappuccinos are better than Starbucks and are true works of art! I stumbled upon this place by chance while in town for a wedding. I will be back whenever I’m anywhere near the area in the future. You must try this place!

This place was recommended to me and is what I was hoping it would be – a bakery/​café in the vein of Bien Cuit in Brooklyn, NY. Anyway, I came here with a friend post-​run (caffeine-​deprived and hungry), and had a coffee with pain au chocolat. Perfect.

Amazing. I came in about noon and they were close to out of morning pastries, you want to get there before 10 if you want to get your choice. That said, no matter what you get, it’s going to be awesome. I asked for one of each thing they had left, figuring that I’d try it all and that if the crowd faves were gone, I’d be judging the goods based on the less loved stuff, and if those were good, the loved ones must be amazing. And I’d know whether it was worth the drive (I live out by the lake) — a raisin thing that looked like a galette but is made out of croissant dough, a thick slice of plum pudding bread thing, a plain croissant, and a quiche. The raisin thing didn’t make it home, it was so delicious I couldn’t stop nibbling on it on my drive back across town until it was all gone. I haven’t had a real croissant in years. I’ve had things called croissants, which looked like croissants, but they weren’t actually croissants. I’ve lived in France off and on. This is the real deal. So buttery and flaky, with the lovely springy chew that real croissants have. I was in heaven. I’ve sampled the plum pudding bread loaf thing and it’s also wonderful. Fresh and bright and with a bread pudding texture but not so wet that you can’t eat it with your fingers. I’m going to have the quiche for dinner. I’ve learned a few things: 1) 1900 is a damn good bakery, IMO better than Wheatfields by a mile, 2) get there before 10 if you have your heart set on a lemon croissant; 3) bless the kids who opened this up, the shop has wonderful bright energy with real, genuine sunshine and happiness, there’s something really refreshing about just going into a shop that is owned and operated by people with such good intentions 4) they start baking bread mid-​day and it’s ready to buy by 2, and they usually still have fresh bread by 5.
I’m sure that this bakery will be a wonderful success. The baked goods are delicious — perfectly made and with care.
They also have café seating and a l33t espresso machine, the young man who was crafting cappucinos looked like he was having a lot of fun and cared about what he was doing. Definitely going to get a coffee next time too.

Amazing coffee, legit baked goods, and great conversation. This is exactly what our neighborhood needed.

Update: went back to 1900 Barker in search of bread again, and this time hit the jackpot. Got the Everyday Loaf and it was the best bread I’ve ever had in the US, hands down. Maybe a tad moist inside but the crust was perfect, as was the flavor, as was everything else about it.
Tried samples of the spelt bread and a raisin (I think, can’t remember) bread. What I do remember was that the raisin-​or-​other was also fantastic: great texture, great crust, not too sweet. The spelt was spelt, have never been a fan, but it seemed well-​made and kudos for experimenting with ancient grains, guys.
I didn’t check out the coffee accoutrements this time so can’t comment on that but the bread is a winner. Get on over there for some bread, people, and in the early to mid-​afternoon before they run out.

Bread is excellent. Had the seeded utility loaf. Looking forward to trying the rest.