Zingerman’s at the D Las Vegas vanishes when business hours are over

If you wander into the D Las Vegas in the afternoon looking for a cup of Zingerman’s coffee, you might be inclined to believe it was a rumor or a mirage, but if you come by between 6 a.m. and noon, it’s hard to miss the sight and aroma.

“The specialty coffee world represents the top 10 percent of the beans available on the planet,” said Steve Mangigian, president of Zingerman’s Coffee Co. “We’re sourcing from the top 2 to 3 percent of that tier.”

Sandra Hu, visiting from Riverside, Calif., agreed .

“I just came in here looking for some caffeine to wake myself up,” she said. “I didn’t expect to find anything this good.”

Hu had checked in the previous evening and said she was startled when she stepped out of the guest elevators and found a coffee shop that hadn’t been there the night before. The operation at the D, 301 Fremont St., is rolled away every afternoon, and t here aren’t immediate plans to make it permanent .

“Our expectation and hope is that this takes off and we’ll continue to bigger and better things,” Mangigian said. “I’m not one of those people who wants to grow just to grow. I really like to be selective and work with partners that are in alignment with us.”

The company has its roots in a partnership between Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, who were working together at a restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“They were both Jews who missed great Jewish deli food,” Mangigian said. “Paul said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could get a really great corned beef sandwich?’ and so they opened Zingerman’s Delicatessen in 1982. It took off and became successful, and now it’s seen not just as a delicatessen but as a community of 10 separately owned businesses that make full-flavored, traditionally made foods.”

Michigan-born Derek Stevens, owner of the D, contacted Zingerman’s hoping to bring a quality product from his home state that would add something different to Fremont Street.

“We talked about it with him, and he really wants to elevate the Fremont Street Experience with food and beverage,” Mangigian said. “We figured that coffee is a good place to start. We’re well-distributed in the Midwest, but this is our first major foothold in the West.”

He sees himself as conduit between the producer and the consumer.

“I’d rather be great than big, so we focus on really great, hard-to-find coffees,” Mangigian said. “The phrase ‘You really can taste the difference’ is written on most of our packaging. That’s our mantra. It’s what we hang our hat on.”

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.