Two Bald Brothers’ excellent pita fills downtown Vegas niche

It all comes down to the pita.

Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurants abound in Southern Nevada, with variations geared to their specific cuisines. One thing they all have in common is pita, the flat, unleavened bread that when grilled forms a center air pocket that’s handy for stashing all manner of fillings.

Pita served locally has improved greatly over the years, but none is better than at Two Bald Brothers in downtown Las Vegas. It’s made in-house (you may spot a cook stamping out circles of dough in the open kitchen) and topped with a heavy layer of sesame seeds, which are roasted until some are brown, some black, all of them full of nutty flavor that adds another appealing dimension.

The pita was served with two luncheon plates, hummus with shawarma ($10.75) and schnitzel ($11.75). The shawarma was a mix of lamb and chicken and was in bite-size pieces instead of the more common sheets shaved from a vertical spit. An employee explained that since chicken cooked on the spit tends to be dry, Two Bald Brothers sautes its deeply marinated fowl and mixes it with marinated lamb and sliced sauteed onions. It brought a sum of earthy flavors to the neutral — almost bland — canvas of hummus on which it rested.

Schnitzel isn’t something you find on many Mediterranean/Middle Eastern menus, but at Two Bald Brothers it’s clearly a specialty of the house, available in a wrap, salad or plate. It had been prepared deftly, the breadcrumb-coated scallops of chicken fried until crispy, the interior still moist. Non-hummus plates at Two Bald Brothers are served with two sides; herb-flecked rice was unremarkable, but mashed potatoes had a nice buttery nature.

And shakshuka ($10.25) is another signature item, with “It’s shakshuka time!” used in the restaurant’s advertising, and they’re right to be proud of it. This time-honored but trendy dish is a soul-warming stew of tomatoes, onions, garlic and green pepper, elevated by a prodigious kick of red pepper. As is customary, two eggs had been poached in it, the broken yolks contributing richness.

One snag: While the menu said the shakshuka would come with salad and a house-made bagel, they both were absent, although there was more of that excellent pita. Service otherwise was pleasant, accommodating and efficient.

The atmosphere is pleasant as well; Two Bald Brothers (which was founded by two Israeli expats who, while not brothers, are bald) is in the tiny space, a half-step down from the street, that once housed Zydeco Po-Boys, and it retains much of the industrial-chic decor. So it literally filled a niche downtown. And with superlative pita, shakshuka and more, it fills one figuratively as well.

If you go

■ Two Bald Brothers, 616 E. Carson Ave.; 702-754-6512

■ The essence: Go for the pita, but stay for the shakshuka.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.