American Brass

This is a restaurant from the same people that brought Maiella. Even though that restaurant was modern Italian, this one was more New American. It sits across the Gantry park near the Hunters Point library. Our first visit was on a Sunday, prior to the day that New York City had to shutdown dining in restaurants due to the coronavirus. Because people weren’t really out and about, the restaurant had many empty tables.

We revisited the restaurant a few years later, and the menu has definitely dumbed down a bit.

Ambiance & Service

The ambiance definitely feels very casual. When you walk in, there’s the seafood bar, and to the right, they have the regular dining area. There is also outdoor dining seating if the weather is good.

The service is very fast. Once we ordered, we received our food pretty quickly.

Food

The bread was complimentary which was basically similar to salted long pretzels.

This passion fruit fizz was a special cocktail for that night. I forgot what it had, but it had passion fruit pulp and some sparkling alcohol in it. Think of it similar to an Italian spritz. It was actually very good, albeit a tad pricey at $15 for a small serving.

The French onion soup came with croutons and melted gruyere. I thought the cheese and bread tasted good, but the soup tasted a little strange to me. I was expecting a salty beef broth, but it came out to be a rather sweet beef broth. Did they mistakenly add sugar instead of salt? My tastebuds were very confused and not necessarily in a good way. Unfortunately even though I love french onion soups, I would pass on this if you had similar expectations.

The spicy salmon tartare came with an eggplant tempura base, ponzu glaze, spicy mayo, and a small grape. This was pretty good, albeit it tastes exactly what the ingredients say. Expect salty with spicy. The fish was fresh, and it wasn’t overdressed with sauce and seasoning. The tempura eggplant acted as a vessel for the salmon tartare, and it worked very well.

The mussel pot was pretty amazing. It comes with 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of mussels in the shell, steamed with sliced onions, celery, and fresh aromatics. It comes with a side of homemade frites. We ordered the moules thai flavor, which was white wine, coconut, and lemon grass. I thought this flavor profile sounded good on paper, but the broth came out too sweet for me. I would probably go with something different for next time, either the Provençale or the Vin Blanc. The mussels though tasted as if they were super fresh. There was some grit and sand in some of the mussels, but I thought the texture and taste of the mussels was enough for me to not complain about it. The portion size was plentiful to share. The french fries were nice, thick, and probably medium well done (slightly crispy).

The pork chop came with roasted fingerling potatoes, market beans, leeks, dill, and dijon mustard. The pork chop was very tender and definitely a little on the fatty side. It was tender, juicy, and had a lot of flavor. In some ways, it reminded me of eating a lambchop but with pork flavors and textures. The beans were similar to BBQ baked beans with little pieces of bacon in it. The pork chop sat on a bed of roasted cauliflower and carrots. The vegetables were in a mustardy sauce. Portion size was plentiful for one person.

We asked for a dessert menu just to see, and my eyes lit up when I saw baked alaska. This was a sponge cake with strawberry ice cream, vanilla and chocolate fudge, and meringue. The meringue on top is similar had a marshmallow flavor with some char on it. Let me simply say that you MUST order this. This dessert was fantastic! It’s a classic French dessert, but it seems uncommon even at French restaurants. It’s like eating a neapolitan ice cream with a very nice tart fudge as the dip. They only have a limited amount of baked alaskas per night, so ask ahead of time if they have it.

Service was spectacular for us. Due to the virus, they had spaced the tables out, and there were many booth tables available. They sat us in a weird small table floating in the middle of traffic. We had asked to move to one of the tables with a booth seat, and they easily accommodated us despite the table was for 4. In addition, our wait staff was attentive and did not pressure us at all.

I thought pricing was definitely reasonable for Long Island City, and you also get decent quantity for the servings as well.

If you’re coming here for views, the restaurant sits on the first floor overlooking the Gantry Park across the street. You can see the Manhattan buildings though.

July 3, 2025 - Second Visit

The Blueberry Mint Sparkle ($11) came with lemon, agave, blueberry, and club soda. The drink was fairly basic. It wasn’t sweet enough for my partner, and when I tried it, it reminded me of a basic bubbly drink with some mild sweetness to it.

The American Smashburger ($23) came with cheese, lettuce, pickled, special sauce, and potato bun. This also looked pretty basic, and I didn’t try it. The guest who tried it thought it was decent. The fries were crispy and were not too greasy.

The Braised Short Ribs ($35) came with crispy polenta, braised carrots, shallots, spinach, and red wine jus. This was fork tender and was good. The rib meat was also lean and not too fatty. The polenta was also memorable. In all, this was a value pick by my partner for its price point.

The Steak Frites ($48) came with grilled NY strip, chile-herb butter, and hand cut fries. The NY strip was ordered medium rare, and it was tender. You can tell the meat wasn’t exactly the best quality, but for the price it was reasonable. Like the burger, the fries were crispy and not greasy.

Overall Impression

This is an excellent addition to the Long Island City neighborhood. This is easily going to be a very popular spot once the virus pandemic is over. Even though some of the dishes didn’t quite match the flavor profile we were looking for, we definitely recommend checking this place out for a modern French American take. And definitely get the Baked Alaska!

Yelp Jabs

The restaurant is very pretty but lacks charm. Maybe the lights were too bright. Maybe they need music.

I think the restaurant is fairly new and still figuring out its character. The menu items definitely could use a little improvement, but there is definitely a lot of potential. The night we came, there was a lot of old school music. Imagine listening to Jackson 5 while eating.

The most embarrassing part of this whole evening was that the Chef from Maiella, which is a very good restaurant, was guiding this whole kitchen fiasco…shame on him for allowing this…

The most embarrassing part about reading this Yelper’s rant was that they weren’t capable of writing basic English sentences. Imagine all periods replaced with ellipsis. The run on sentences actually hurt to read. If you’re going to rant on Yelp, at least try to do it coherently.

It’s puzzling how a high-end restaurant can nail the atmosphere but miss so badly on a staple like a burger

I don’t think this is really a high-end restaurant, at least by Manhattan standards. It’s definitely more mid-level, but this comment hints the divide between the Manhattan crowd and the Queens crowd. In Long Island City along Vernon Blvd, they have a lot of these restaurants that appear high end to outsiders.

Revisions

1. Jul 3, 2025 - Second visit.
2. Mar 15, 2020 - Initial revision.