Owner Adnan Krilic put his heart and soul into Brick Café, building most of the interior and furniture himself. Lace curtains on the French doors and glowing candles lend warmth and coziness to this fabulous café that will make you want to come back time and again.

Brick Cafe Offers Fine Dining In A Rustic Setting

Brick Café is an absolutely charming restaurant that offers European fare in a cozy, rustic setting at reasonable prices. You’ll feel as if you walked into a farmhouse in the countryside. The dining room is furnished with rough-hewn tables, antique flocked mirrors, brick walls and a tin ceiling. Owner Adnan Krilic put his heart and soul into Brick Café, building most of the interior and furniture himself. Lace curtains on the French doors and glowing candles lend warmth and coziness to this fabulous café that will make you want to come back time and again. The adjoining lounge also has a very inviting atmosphere, offering a comfortable, relaxed environment in which to have a drink with friends.

Choose a libation from the carefully compiled wine list, which in a spirit of whimsy is printed on a wine bottle. Carefully selected vintages from France and Italy are offered at very reasonable prices.

The staff is very friendly, polite and efficient and will describe in detail the many nightly specials offered. While perusing the menu, I spread their wonderful calamata olive tapenade onto wedges of crispy French bread.

Octopus carpaccio is tender and sliced paper-thin and served below a mound of fennel salad ($8.95). This singular taste experience can be matched only by the tuna carpaccio with avocado sauce. Both melt on the tongue. If you choose to indulge in escargots, you’ll enjoy soaking up the heavenly butter and garlic sauce with the fresh bread ($7.95). Homemade pate with seven-grain bread is just perfect for sharing, as are the fresh, steamed mussels prepared in red or white wine sauce. Homemade soups such as cream of asparagus and onion gratinee are quite popular as well. Brick Salad, tossed hearts of palm, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumbers and shaved parmesan, is almost a meal in itself. Another wonderful salad is made up of red bliss potatoes with crisp green beans, sweet beets and goat cheese.

Pasta dishes are all handmade and prepared to order. Delicate spinach ravioli with butter and sage sauce ($10.95) is a menu standard. Specials that evening also featured handmade lobster ravioli with sun-dried tomato sauce. Pappardelle, or ribbon pasta, is tossed with fresh salmon and asparagus in a brandy cream sauce. Risotto with black squid ink is rich and satisfying ($13.95). Veal cannelloni, hand rolled pasta filled with meat and herbs ($11.95), is on my try-next-visit list.

The Brick Café menu offers carefully selected and prepared dishes to satisfy every taste. The pan-roasted breast of duck virtually devoid of any visible fat and dressed with a sauce of oranges and green peppercorns ($15.95) is simply divine. Sautéed salmon with capers, tomato and garlic is light and flavorful. The chef at Brick bakes orata, a white, Mediterranean fish, with black olives and garlic sauce to make flaky, moist and succulent orata al forno ($16.95).

One of the menu specials on the evening we visited was chicken rollatini layered with fresh spinach, ham and mushrooms. Grilled paillard of chicken with grilled vegetables is always on the menu. Grilled New Zealand baby lamb will melt in your mouth and classic French style steak frites is a must-have. All entrees come with fresh vegetables.

Desserts at Brick Café are also homemade and extra special. White chocolate mousse cake is a three-inch high cloud of fluffy white chocolate mousse. The dark chocolate soufflé is also fantastic. Profiteroles are tiny cream puffs filled with ice cream or pastry cream, then drizzled with chocolate sauce. Of course, there’s the sublime crème brulee as well.

Weekend brunch at Brick Café is perfect for that special date or a get together with friends or family. Served Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. till 5 p.m., brunch at Brick Café includes a host of fluffy omelets, French toast and many of their regular dinner items, soups and salads.

The adjoining Brick Bar is a great place to have a drink and relax on the leather couches while listening to great music or chatting over an espresso. A bar menu features elegant sandwiches, including beef carpaccio or pate on freshly baked bread. Live jazz is now featured in the lounge on Wednesday evenings from 8 p.m. to midnight, and Sunday evenings from 7 to 11 p.m.

Brick Café is open seven days a week for dinner from 5 to 11 p.m., and for weekend brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

I can’t wait to go back to Brick Café. Its classic European bistro fare and cozy interior make it a wonderful place to share with someone special.

Brick Café

30-95 33rd St.

Astoria

718-267-2735