Colombian cheese breads, pastries, inventive coffee mocktails, and roastery

























"Josh Molina’s Chinatown Take It Easy serves as a roastery for his two Makers & Finders coffee shops and a Colombian pastry shop. Find nitro-brewed coffee, lattes, cappucinos, cortados, and more. Customers can pick up buñuelos, little fried dough balls, and pan de bono, a cornbread ball with cheese, as well as empanadas and flatbreads." - Susan Stapleton


"Cheese-filled Colombian breads, pastries, and mocktails with a coffee base arrive at a new coffee shop and bakery opening in Chinatown that opened in July. 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. 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." - Susan Stapleton


"A newly opened Las Vegas Colombian breakfast spot offering Colombian-style morning fare has joined the local dining scene." - Amanda Kludt

"At 3540 S. Wynn Road I discovered a new Chinatown coffee shop and bakery that doubles as a public-facing roastery for Josh Molina’s shops and showcases cheese-filled Colombian breads, pastries, and coffee-based mocktails. Molina, a first-generation Colombian who opened the roasting space in 2017 and upgraded to a Diedrich IR-12 roaster, runs the business with his parents Martha and Omar; he brought on Ashley Avila from Makers & Finders as pastry chef and tapped Paris Cesena as head roaster. The bakery menu highlights buñuelos made to order and filled with cotija, pandebono with cotija and queso fresco, almojábana with queso fresco and feta, and pan con queso in individual and family sizes stuffed with mozzarella and queso fresca, alongside carrot cake doughnuts, matcha cakes and cake pops, fruit tarts, and a roster of empanadas. On the drink side, specialty mocktails use coffee as a base, with beans from five countries including Colombia’s Huila; standout beverages include a dalgona matcha with honey milk and a matcha meringue topping, an espresso fizz with juniper berry and citrus-infused honey, the Somewhere in Kentucky (a mint- and lime-forward espresso take on a mint julep), and the On the Block with pomegranate, black iced tea, and lemon. The space is sleek and minimal—white tiles, a white countertop with a La Marzocco machine, a mountain mural by Trenton Larson, a small patio, counter service, a few tables and a bar—and even uses a sloth as its easygoing logo; the name comes from Molina’s father’s favorite saying, “Take it easy.”" - Susan Stapleton

"Opening in April in the Center at Spring Mountain in Chinatown, Take It Easy is a new coffee shop and bakery from Josh Molina of Makers & Finders fame that spotlights Colombian pastries — buñuelos and pan de bono earn starring roles — alongside empanadas and flatbreads; Molina, a first-generation Colombian who recalls finding a Colombian bakery on every block in Queens and whose family routinely brings home boxes of baked goods when they visit relatives in New York, says the space will be smaller and different from the full-service Makers & Finders, featuring a sleek, minimalistic look, a La Marzocco espresso machine, a small patio, counter service, a few tables and a bar for seating inside, and serving as the roasting headquarters for his Makers & Finders locations with a Diedrich IR-12 infrared roaster for a cleaner roasting process." - Susan Stapleton