Category: Dining

BLVD is the new three-story retail complex on the Strip across from City Center that replaced the old Hawaiian Marketplace. It’s a slick-looking destination that spans 700 feet of Strip frontage and includes 400,000 square feet on three floors, including a large rooftop terrace (the “Overlook”). It appears more prominent than it actually is so far, with only eight stores (ABC, Abercrombie and Fitch, Adidas, H&M, JD, Lululemon, Pandora, and Puma); Puma has three interactive experiences on the second floor. The world’s largest In N Out Burger is under construction on the roof.

The only eatery at BLVD so far is How Ya Dough’n Pizzeria, also the only open business on the third floor; it launched in mid-December. Curious about BLVD, In N Out, and How Ya Dough’n, we visited on the pizza place’s first day. You walk to the south end of BLVD, where an escalator delivers you to the third floor; you meander a bit around to the front of the terrace until you come to the pizzeria.

The huge two-story In N Out Burger has a ways to go; other in-progress storefronts on the third floor appear to be more food outlets. As of now, however, How Ya Dough’n is it up there. When In N Out opens, people will walk by the pizza, but currently, it’s far off the beaten path and we wonder how long it can survive the status quo.

The back story is a young couple in south Florida, marooned by the pandemic, started making pizzas for family and friends; when they “discovered” sourdough, it was the game-changer and they opened their first location in Boynton Beach. The BLVD venue is their fourth.

Three menus over the cash register are all the same: small and hard to see (no paper menus when we were there to get a closer look). Also, bring your credit card — no cash accepted. They sell only pies, no slices; the 12-inch has four. The two kinds of pizzas come with tomato sauce and the usual cheese, pepperoni, and meatballs, while the no-sauce are just cheese and toppings, such as pistachio, mushrooms, garlic/honey, and sausage. The 12-inchers are $14-$20, the 16s are $28-$30 — gourmet pizza prices.

They also sell four salads and “hot stuff,” wings and meatballs (all $16-$18).

We got a 16-inch half-pepperoni and half-meatball. Three of us agreed that they were a bit stingy with the toppings. Also, the big-sell sourdough crust, apparently super-popular in south Florida, was decent, though barely sour, especially compared to Yukon Pizza’s 120-year-old starter dough (where the most expensive large is $22; see LVA 6/23 for our review). How Ya Dough’n’s $29 ($36 with tax and tip) was definitely a Strip tab. Finally, we walked in, but if you have to pay for parking, add $20 to the bill and it’s yet another example of stunted value and questionable quality in Big Casino Land.

Cafe Landwer traces its origin all the way back to 1919 and Berlin, Germany, where Moshe Landwer opened his first coffee roastery and cafe. In 1933 for obvious reasons, the family emigrated to Tel Aviv and opened Palestine’s (now Israel’s) first coffee roaster and shop. The first modern Café Landwer restaurant opened in 2004, also in Tel Aviv, and started expanding globally shortly thereafter. The brand debuted in the U.S. in Boston in 2018 and has steadily grown, with 15 locations in North America, including the most recent opening in Las Vegas last April in an attractive storefront in Summerlin (on W. Charleston just west of Durango); it’s in the space formerly occupied by Chinglish Cantonese Wine Bar.

Cafe Landwer serves Israeli-Mediterranean-Middle Eastern cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfasts include the “Famous”: two eggs, chopped salad, tzatziki, guacamole & salsa, skordilia (thick Greek dip, like hummus), feta cheese, Greek yogurt with berries and granola, honey, and strawberry jam, and bread; and the vegan omelet, with chopped salad, guacamole, salsa, matbucha (tomato-chili dip) , baba ganoush, artichoke, cherry tomatoes,
plant-based yogurt with berries and granola, skordilia, silan (date honey), strawberry jam, and pita (both $21). Also on the breakfast menu are two Benedicts ($19), three shakshukas ($17-$29), waffles and pancakes, breakfast parfait, and avocado toast ($13-$16).

Lunch consists of pita sandwiches like falafel, shawarma, smoked salmon, and schnitzel ($13-$18) and hummus bowls, while for dinner there are salads ($16-$21), pasta ($18-$21), and such entrees as kebabs, schnitzel, branzino, salmon, and vegan stir fry ($18-$32).

One thing we can say for sure is that no matter what you order, it’s very big food.

We tried the short rib shakshuka, which comes with chopped salad, a half-avocado, tahini, and fresh-baked challah (half a loaf straight from the oven). The short rib was cooked to perfection and the shakshuka, a spicy tomato-pepper stew topped by a fried egg, couldn’t have been more authentic and piquant. Even though we were stuffed halfway through, we were positively compelled to finish; we simply couldn’t stop eating. We did take home the tahini and half the challah.

We also ordered the bourekas to sample. This is an Israeli puff pastry filled with soft cheese and served with sides of a hard-boiled egg, radish slices, zhug (a Yemenese hot sauce), pickles, and tahini. We took that home whole and had as dessert for lunch and dinner that same day.

All in all, this meal wasn’t exactly a bargain; the bill, excluding tax and tip, came to $44. Next time, we’ll get the shakshuka sans short rib and skip the bourekas ($20). Still, it was the best, biggest, and most exotic breakfast we’ve had in many a year.

A “traditional breakfast” for $39? That’s what you pay these days at a fufu joint like Tableau at Wynn Las Vegas. We had an opportunity to grab breakfast there and we took it—comped, of course. Yeah, $39 for a bacon & eggs breakfast will make you shudder, even though this one comes with three eggs, potatoes, toast, pastries, juice, and coffee. But what you’re really paying for the setting, the cache, the prestige of doing brekkie at the Wynn.

Juice

There’s a separate menu of fresh-squeezed juices. If you’re gonna do juice, a first-timer’s gotta go with the flight of three—Orange Zest, Purify, and Red Deliciousness—for $14. Orange Zest isn’t orange juice. It’s a mixture of orange, carrot, ginger, Asian pear, and nectar. Purify is honeydew, green apple, kale, spinach, cayenne pepper, organic agave, and celery. Red Delicioiusness is fuji apples, bell pepper, pomegranate, beet, and lime. Here they are (we don’t think we need to label them).

The Food

We didn’t order the traditional breakfast. There are too many intriguing choices to do that. Selections include lemon ricotta pancakes, with blueberry butter and Vermont maple syrup for $28; Belgian waffle, with marinated strawberries and lemon Chantilly ($29), and the obligatory caviar & soft boiled eggs ($78). We opted for lox & bagel, with scallion cream cheese, pickled onion, capers, cucumber, and egg mimosa for $32. Our dining partner, a Tableau regular, simply ordered some things that came to mind that he wanted, same as you’d do if you were in your own house with your own chef—“three eggs scrambled soft, a croissant, coffee with almond milk on the side.” We didn’t see eggs a la carte or almond milk on the menu. The waiter just nodded, then brought it out. Sweet!

The Verdict

Was it the best bagel & lox we’ve ever had? No, but it was good. And a couple of those juices were an interesting foray into flavor pairing. But as alluded to above, this is more about scene than cuisine. If you get a comp Tableau, take it. If you fancy a splurge, do it. If you want to impress the woman you met at the club last night, this will do the trick. Breakfast for two was $100+ with tip. As they say, when in Wynn!