The Boston Globe - 11.03.2020

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020 The Boston Globe G3

By Kara Baskin

GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

N

ir Caspi, 42, grew up in Israel. After five years in the Israeli

army, he transformed Café Landwer from a relatively small

coffee business into a restaurant with dozens of branches

around the world. He runs two restaurants in Boston (the

first one opened in 2018) and lives in Newton with his wife

and four sons.

“It was my wife’s decision to move here. For my wife, education and com-

munity is the most important thing, and the Israeli-Jewish community in

Boston is one of the best in the United States,” he says.

He hopes to introduce Bostonians to authentic hummus (“it’s all about

the tahini,” he says) and provide a casual yet sophisticated gathering spot for

breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Just don’t ask him to eat gefilte fish.

the time.

What restaurants do you visit when

you’re not working?

Either Ostra or Mystique. Those are

the two high-end restaurants I like. If

going with kids, Legal Sea Foods. I

have four boys!

What’s your earliest food memory

that made you think that you might

work in restaurants someday?

Definitely schnitzel. It’s a food ev-

ery Israeli kid’s grandma or mom is

making. It’s so tasty when you make it

at home. It’s homey. I remember

schnitzel and pasta was the thing.

That’s my childhood memory. It’s

chicken breast with bread crumbs, and

you put it in the fryer for a short time.

It originates from Vienna, Austria, but

this is what Landwer is — it’s an Israeli

melting pot from all around the world.

The Jewish people came from all

around the world, and each one

brought their own food. Some people

came from Morocco like my parents,

or from Lebanon, or Syria. Israel be-

came kind of a hub or a melting-pot ar-

ea for this food. That’s what we pres-

ent.

What’s the worst restaurant experi-

ence you’ve ever had?

That’s a tough question! It’s proba-

bly something with hospitality. We ate

at the Chestnut Hill Mall. I won’t say

the restaurant name, but the overall

experience wasawful.Wecamewith

our kids; the greeting was bad, the

food was bad, and the hospitality. Ev-

erything we asked, they said no. They

weren’t nice. I related more to the hos-

pitality aspect rather than the food.

Food is usually OK; sometimes it’s

amazing. Usually it’s OK. The hospital-

ity experience can be very tough and

bad.

How could the Boston food scene im-

prove?

More Mediterranean restaurants

are coming in. There’s Bonapita, which

I really like. I think it’s kind of stepping

up; it’s good for us, because we like

competition. We like people challeng-

ing us to be better. I think, in this as-

pect, Boston is making progress. I can

compare it to Toronto. We have three

stores in Toronto as well, and it’s less

competitive.

Describe your customers in three

words.

I am coming from a different cul-

ture. In Israel, if someone wants some-

thing, they wave their hands and yell.

Here, people just want eye contact! So:

nice people, polite, and they’re not

open-minded. It’s tough to open their

minds, and it takes some time to open

them to different flavors. I’ll compare

it to Toronto. From day one, everyone

came and tried us. Here in Boston,

people like pizza, pasta, burgers. They

areopeningthemselvestoadifferent

palate, but it takes more time.

What’s the most overdone food or

drink trend right now?

Light roasting coffee is overdone. I

think coffee should be dark-roasted,

like we have in Europe and Israel. The

third-wave coffee movement.

What are you reading?

I’m reading two books: One is an

autobiography of an Israeli politician,

Bogie Ya’alon. And I’m reading “Good

to Great” for the third time. It’s an

amazing book.

What’s one food you never want to

eat again?

Gefilte fish! My wife likes it.

How’s your commute?

It’s 15 minutes. I live in Newton.

What kind of restaurant is Boston

missing?

Wow. I think casual dining is some-

thing that Boston is missing; that’s

what I think Landwer is trying to cov-

er, this void. If you don’t want to go to

a high-end restaurant or a coffee shop,

you need something in between,

where you can go in the morning in

flip-flops and shorts or dress up nicely

in the evening and have a great dinner

for a reasonable price. Those restau-

rants I couldn’t find in the United

States, not only in Boston. You have

old diners, but I don’t feel like they

give the right experience, the healthy

food. I think they’re a bit behind.

What Boston restaurant do you miss

the most?

This is the easiest question: Oishii

on Hammond Street [in Chestnut

Hill]. I used to eat there twice a week.

It’s a neighborhood place. It’s the big-

gest loss in Boston for us!

Who has been your most memorable

customer?

In 2004, when we first opened, the

first week, I remember one guest who

waited an hour for food. I remember

her yelling at me. I remember I was

trying to stay calm and explain. And

it’s an example I give my staff: Some-

times we’re doing something wrong

and the guest — we call them guests,

not customers — when a guest is get-

ting upset, stay calm and nice. Don’t

get into your corner and get upset with

him.

If you were to eat your last meal in

Boston, where would you go?

I’d go to Ostra and order lobster!

Kara Baskin can be reached at

[email protected]. Follow her

on Twitter @kcbaskin.

Second in a series of occasional columns exploring thehistory of cocktails and New English drinking,

and offering original drinks informed by the past.

Before the green beer, shots of Jameson, and leprechaun hats, people were doing justice to Irish pride all year long in a way

you might not associate with St. Patrick’s Day: making old-school cocktails. With Irish whiskey, of course. We’ve mined old

cocktail guides for inspiration to honor Ireland this March 17, adding a few little twists of our own.

San Patrizio

The deep desire to make Irish things green goes back a

long way. Several prewar cocktails call for green creme de

menthe, and they’ve got the festive names to match: the

Shamrock, the “Everybody’s Irish” cocktail, and the terribly

original “St. Patrick’s Day” cocktail. We’re not using any

bright-green stuff for this one, but we are keeping the minty

flavor, and adding a bitter kick, too. If you’re having a low-

key holiday at home (or ate too much corned beef!), this

simple mix of Irish whiskey and Italian digestivo on the

rocks will do the trick.

1 ounce Irish whiskey (we used Knappogue Castle

12-year)

1 ounce Branca Menta

Combine the above in a small rocks glass. Add a couple

cubes of ice and stir for 20 seconds. Using a lemon twist, ex-

press the oils onto the surface of the cocktail and drag the

peel around the rim of the glass, then garnish with the peel,

placing it in the drink in a pleasing manner.

Kilkenny

This one’s inspired by the Tipperary cocktail from the Sa-

voy Cocktail Book (1930). It’s a Manhattan variation calling

for the expected sweet vermouth. Here, we’re switching out

the vermouth in favor of a rich tawny port. This change

lends a pleasantly oxidized flavor to the drink. We kept the

original’s Chartreuse, which stands in for bitters and adds a

nice herbal note.

2 ounces Irish whiskey (Tullamore D.E.W. or Bushmills

work well)

1 ounce tawny port

¼ teaspoon Chartreuse (green)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Stir with ice

for 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish

with an orange twist, following the same procedure as the

lemon twist above.

Kieran’s Kick

There’s an old cocktail called Cameron’s Kick, from the

1922 book the ABC of Mixing Cocktails by Harry McElhone,

that calls for Irish whiskey, Scotch, lemon juice and orgeat

(almond syrup). We love Scotch, but this isn’t the day for it.

Taking a cue from the original to add almond flavor to a

classic sour template, we’re mixing Irish whiskey, lemon

juice, and amaretto to create a delicious cocktail that high-

lights the whiskey’s malty notes. If you like amaretto sours

(or traditional whiskey sours!) this one’s for you.

2 ounces Irish whiskey (we used Slane)

1 ounce lemon juice

½ ounce amaretto (we like Luxardo)

½ ounce simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a shaker, add ice and shake

for 20 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Gar-

nish with a Luxardo maraschino cherry on a cocktail pick.

Al Culliton is a writer, bartender, and cocktail historian

and can be reached via alculliton.com, and followed on

Instagram @al_culliton.

GETTING SALTY
NIRCASPIOFCAFÉLANDWER

He brings Israeli-style

gourmet casual to town

What’s the first restaurant you re-
member eating at in Boston?
Staying at the Hotel Common-
wealth to get breakfast for the kids at
Eastern Standard in June 2016, when
we first moved here. We had an Airb-
nb, but we landed at 5 a.m., and we
needed a hotel with the kids to have a
few hours of sleep. I grabbed some-
thing and brought it to the room!

What’s one thing you’d like to fix
about the restaurant industry here?
Coming from Israel, vegetables and
fruits are very fresh. You take it from
the tree, and you serve it a day after
that. Here, it’s a bit tough when you
get most vegetables from California,
and fruits. You can feel it in the taste.
I’d like to fix this.

How has the restaurant landscape
changed since you started working in
Boston?
Now it’s about the whole experi-
ence: the music, the hospitality pack-
age that you’re getting walking into a
place. It’s something that I feel in my
stomach. Sometimes I can’t even say
what it is. It feels right. The layout, the
music, the acoustics, the smiling of the
people. I think that Boston is doing
great on this one. The experience of
the new restaurants is improving all

‘Ithinkcasualdining

issomethingthat

Bostonismissing;

that’swhatIthink

Landweristryingto

cover,thisvoid...

whereyoucangoin

themorninginflip-

flopsordressupnicely

intheeveningand

haveagreatdinner.’

THE TAVERN

Old-school cocktails for St. Patrick’s Day

BY AL CULLITON | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

PHOTOS BY AL CULLITON FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE