Take It Easy Opens With Colombian Cheese Breads and Coffee-Based Mocktails

Cheese-filled Colombian breads, pastries, and mocktails with a coffee base arrive at a new coffee shop and bakery opening in Chinatown. Take It Easy from Josh Molina of Makers & Finders fame debuts Center at Spring Mountain as a roastery for his two coffee shops and a Colombian pastry shop.

Molina owned the space since 2017 as a place to roast beans, but decided after he purchased a Diedrich IR-12 roaster that uses infrared heating for a cleaner roasting process that it needed to be seen by the public. When space opened next door, he decided to combine the two locations to open Take It Easy.

Molina, a first-generation Colombian, says his family moved to New York City in the 1980s. His parents Martha and Omar, who co-own the restaurant with him, moved to Las Vegas in 1998, and discovered a lack of Colombian pastries in the city. “We decided to do four to five things we love,” says Molina, who brought on Ashley Avila, who worked at Makers & Finders as a prep cook, as the pastry chef.

The bakery features buñuelos, little fried dough balls made to order and filled with cotija, and pandebono, a cornbread ball with cotija and queso fresco, as well as almojabana with queso fresco and feta cheese and pan con queso in individual and family sizes, stuffed with mozzarella and queso fresca. Carrot cake doughnuts, matcha cakes and cake pops, fruit tarts, and a roster of empanadas round out the food side of the menu.

“I want to share these things that I grew up with,” Molina says. “I want to display some of these dishes to a larger demographic.”

For coffee drinks, Molina added specialty mocktails that use coffee as the base. He tapped Paris Cesena, who worked in the front of the house at Makers & Finders, to become the head roaster. Beans from five countries, including Colombia’s southern coffee region of Huila, make the menu.

A drink called the dalgona matcha features honey milk with a matcha meringue topping sprinkled with chocolate shavings. An espresso fizz features juniper berry and citrus infused honey with a splash of tonic water and two shots of espresso. The Somewhere in Kentucky takes mint, sugar cubes, and lime like a mint julep but uses espresso. And the On the Block infuses pomegranate over an ice cube, topped with black iced tea and lemon juice.

Trenton Larson worked through ISI Group to create the mountain mural on the back wall. Take It Easy features a sleek and minimalistic look with white tiles and a white countertop that hosts a La Marzocco espresso machine. A small patio, counter service, and a few tables and a bar for seating inside round out the space. And of course a sloth is the easygoing logo for the coffee shop.

As for the name, Molina says his father’s favorite saying, “Take it easy,” not only inspired the coffee shop but the attitude he’s trying to take. “Dad is super chill,” Molina says. “I wanted a phrase as the name. This was a good fit for it.”

Louiie Victa

Louiie Victa

Louiie Victa

Louiie Victa

Louiie Victa

Louiie Victa/Eater Vegas

Louiie Victa

Louiie Victa

Louiie Victa

Take It Easy, 3540 S. Wynn Road, 702-586-8255. Open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Makers & Finders

1120 South Main Street, , NV 89104 (702) 586-8255 Visit Website

Take It Easy

3540 Wynn Road, Las Vegas, NV 89013

Las Vegas

, , NV