The Lowdown on Dead Low
Dead Low Coffee Co. opens early to give Folly its caffeine fix
by Lorne Chambers | Editor
Several years back, Patrick Garlock was on a surf trip in California, heading up Highway 101 (The 101 if you’re from Cali) and stopped to have some beverages with a friend. He noted how extreme the tides were there, a fluctuation in that area around 10 feet. At the time, the tide was low. Dead low. So, when his friend asked him if he ever owned his own coffee shop what would he call it, Patrick didn’t hesitate, “Dead Low,” he said. Six years later, Garlock finds himself on Folly Beach slinging coffee and pastries from a black food truck he co-owns with friend and fellow surfer and coffee aficionado Gavin McCutcheon. The business, of course, is indeed called Dead Low Coffee Co.
Set up on the side of East Ashley Avenue between Center Street and 2nd Street East, Dead Low is open 7 days a week from 6:30 a.m. until noon. Garlock says it was important to open early, that although a lot of people on the island operate on “Folly Time,” surfers are often up early if the waves are there and they need a place to grab a good cup of coffee.
“Coffee goes hand-in-hand with surf culture,” says Garlock. “Every beach community has a good coffee shop and we didn’t really have one here.”
Prior to getting into coffee, Garlock worked as a lifeguard and surf instructor in Maui and the Outer Banks as well as a firefighting for the National Parks Service.
“I didn’t really get into specialty coffee until recently. But once we got really serious about the concept, I went and worked at Springbock Coffee Roasters downtown on King Street. It was while working at Springbock that Garlock says he really dialed it in and began to understand the nuances of good coffee. Dead Low uses Springbock beans exclusively.
McCutcheon, on the other hand, comes from a more traditional food and beverage background and brings restaurant experience to the business. The Cape Cod, Mass. native moved to New York at the age of 17 and began working in the high-pressure restaurants there, even working for Gordon Ramsey. Once he moved to Charleston, McCutcheon continued in the business. He was a sous-chef at McCrady’s and bartended at The Belmont hotel downtown. He’s also worked at Melfi’s, Little Jack’s, and eventually ended up at Chico Feo.
“That’s how I fell in love with Folly Beach,” says McCutcheon. “I always wanted to open a restaurant one day and this beach needs something like this. People need it here.”
McCutcheon may be on to something. So far, the response from the tourists and locals alike has been overwhelming, says Garlock. They often sell out of their baked goods daily. Speaking of the baked goods, McCutcheon’s wife Margaret makes them fresh everyday. The former pastry chef at Gnome Café downtown, her specialty is the hulking cinnamon roll, covered in icing. Like most of her creations, the signature cinnamon roll is 100 percent vegan. But you would never know it by eating it.
“My niche is vegan and gluten-free,” she says. “But I also have the recipe for my late grandmother’s red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. That’s not vegan.”
Dead Low also offers chia pudding with Spirulina. Starting sometime this month, Gorlock says they will begin serving hot breakfast out of the food truck in addition to coffee and pastries. McCutcheon teases that he is working on a birria breakfast torta with consummate and he’s also toying around with burritos with Spam and eggs among some other things.
So, what’s the hottest seller so far? Iced vanilla latte with oat milk, of course. And that’s just fine with Garlock, despite his immersive coffee experience at Springbock. “Look we ride motorcycles and surf. We don’t take our self too seriously. If you want a vanilla latte, come get it,” he says.
