Landbrot (CLOSED)

After a disappointing chomp of a New York pretzel (we've all been there), a pair of Düsseldorf telecom execs—KableWelt CEO Volker Herrmann and his associate David Rothe—decided to deliver a pair of much-needed German bakeries to Gotham. The 62-seat West Village flagship houses the baking facility upstairs, outfitted with a high-firing Miwe oven imported from the motherland and a 30-foot-high glass dumbwaiter that lowers freshly baked goods to the café below. The 32-seat Lower East Side spot, which stays open till 4am for the nabe's night owls, will get daily deliveries of the Teutonic specialties, including sourdough pretzels risen for 24 hours, honig-senf brot (Cologne honey-mustard loaf) and roggenmischbrot (a double-crust rye). The bakeshops will double as beer bars, serving mugs from Der HirschBrau brewery, like the Munich dunkel lager Holzar-Bier and doppelbock Doppel-Hirsch.