Inside the new Las Vegas location of a 106-year-old diner

If you could only drop by the new Cafe Landwer in Boca Park for one dish, you might happily drop by for the pita: light, pillowy, puffy cushions baked to golden, speckled with a bit of char. Warm and soft, torn chunk by chunk, the pita needs nothing but itself.

If you could drop by only for pita and pairings, you might happily do that, too. Troweling the flatbread with luscious hummus or spiced chicken for shawarma. Dipping a strip in baba ganoush or tangy tzatziki. Tearing the pita in half, then using it to scoop up oozy poached egg and spicy tomato stew from a cast-iron skillet of shakshuka.

Cafe Landwer celebrates Israeli cooking and Mediterranean cooking more broadly, so proper pita is essential.

Cafe Landwer dates to a Berlin coffee roastery opened by Moshe Landwer in 1919. Today, the Landwer group has locations in Los Angeles, Miami, Massachusetts and Canada, plus more than 80 cafes across Israel, where the Landwer family settled in 1933 with the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. The Vegas shop is the first in the Western U.S.

“Vegas is an amazing location for culinary,” said Amir Mor, the owner of the Vegas restaurant, who moved here from Israel about eight months ago to set up shop. “Every great concept that wants to spread wants to be in Vegas.”

Light and airy space

Cafe Landwer occupies 8704 W. Charleston Blvd., Suite 101, the space that previously housed Chinglish Cantonese Wine Bar, which closed suddenly in June. Step inside, and the transformation is startling if you’d ever been to Chinglish.

White walls and exposed ductwork, white tabletops, neutral curving booths and banquettes, branched globe fixtures and a mirrored mural of Landwer moments help create a bright airy feel. There are potted palms and rattan-backed chairs (two more light touches), and framed posters and other images (including one of Moshe Landwer pouring coffee in the 1930s) populate the walls.

The floors are tiled in a Cadmus pattern of 3D geometric blocks colored white, light green and black; the pattern nods to M.C. Escher. The former wine bar is now the coffee bar, serving signature drinks such as Turkish coffee, cappuccino, cortado and Nutella latte. The beans are sourced from Ethiopia, Brazil, Colombia and India.

“They’re roasted in Israel, then we import it and grind it here,” Mor said. “It’s like a specialty coffee shop inside a restaurant.”

Breakfast standards

Cafe Landwer serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Landwer’s Famous Breakfast, a marquee dish, arrives with two eggs any style, accompanied by small bowls of chopped salad, tzatziki, guacamole, Greek yogurt parfait, garlicky skordalia potato spread, crumbly feta, honey and jam drizzled by wand, and rounds of that splendid pita.

Hummus pooled with olive oil and backed by pita is offered in several styles that range from plain to shawarma heaped with spiced chicken and caramelized onions to one with shakshuka sauce and a poached egg.

Shakshuka itself comes not just in the standard version, but also with feta and eggplant, a lamb and beef kebab, braised short rib, and a meatless take with vegan meatballs and no eggs.

“Israelis really, really, really like shakshuka for breakfast,” Mor said.

‘Your new vice’

Landwer’s Famous Schnitezl features a chicken breast pounded thin, breaded, fried and anointed with spurts of lemon juice. The crisp-tender schniztel receives an assist from a hot hillock of corrugated fries.

If pita provides a reason to visit Cafe Landwer for just one item, so does rosalach (sometimes spelled rozalach), the Israeli cookies made from a dough similar to pizza dough that are lined with Nutella or other fillings, rolled, then sliced and baked. The cookies are soft, rich with chocolate and finished with a flurry of confectioners sugar, eaten alone or with a cup of coffee.

They are your new vice.

At dinner

Cafe Landwer encompasses 3,200 square feet inside (seating about 110) and 1,600 square feet on the terrace (seating about 90) garnished with desert landscaping. As the dinner service approaches, the lights are dimmed, the music becomes softer, and cocktails fashioned with tahini and za’atar might appear on the menu.

All good. Now, how can the team mix up a cocktail incorporating the pita?

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.