Former Location of Riverview Restaurant where American Brass will open (Photo: Queens Post)
April 19, 2019 By Christian Murray
The new restaurant that is moving into the space previously occupied by Riverview on Center Boulevard is expected to open by the end of August.
The new establishment, to be called American Brass, is a concept by the owners of Maiella, the large Italian restaurant located at 4610 Center Blvd.
Tommy Demaras, one of the three partners in American Brass, told Community Board 2’s Landuse Committee Wednesday night that they are currently working on renovating the establishment with the goal of opening in about four months.
He was at the meeting to discuss their sidewalk seating plan, which will be the same as Riverview’s.
Demaras with Kate Hudson at Maiella in 2015
Demaras, who will own American Brass with Robert Briskin and Raffaele Solinas, said that the restaurant will be an American brasserie that will offer classic dishes ranging from seafood, meats, burgers, salads and other plates from varying cuisines.
“American comfort food. Nice. Casual” Demaras said.
He told the Landuse Committee that it would be something along the lines of “The Smith,” a popular restaurant group in Manhattan.
The site will seat about 160 people inside. Damaras said that they anticipate setting up about 48 seats outside.
The restaurant will offer valet parking, like most restaurants on the strip.
Briskin told the LIC Post last June that the trio had eyed the Riverview site for years, and had been in conversations with Tony Raouf, the owner, for some time.
An opportunity came to take over the space when the restaurant had to close due to an issue with the sprinklers at the beginning of 2018. It never reopened.
9 Comments
The loudest proponents in the Comment section of continually growing LIC’s restaurant offerings on Vernon and Jackson, with all the accompanying noise and disruption, are singing a very different tune when those businesses operate within their own ivory tower backyards. Boo-hoo. Cry me a river with your lame complaints.
That’s not Kate Hudson
All the dog owners need to know what it means to curb your dog. urine mills trees and flowers!!!!
Walking my dog past Riverview, I could never understand why patrons would want to sit there eating (and paying a good price to do so!!) while dogs pee and poop 3 feet from their dinner plates and birds crap from the trees… eeee–eeeew! Never understood the attraction. Simply enclose part of the area for prime indoor window seating and free up a normal width pedestrian sidewalk. Parents & kids with strollers, bikes, scooters, skateboards and pets must navigate that narrow sidewalk every day getting to and from the school directly across the street. Even on weekends, there’s a ton of similar foot traffic. Wise up!
If it is going to have a menu like the smith and if they execute it will then it will be a success. However Long Island city food quality seems to always lack. The chefs always seem
Sub par
Let’s not go back to a sliver of sidewalk…
https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/no-outdoor-seating-at?source=c.em.cp&r_by=6682157
Thanks!
Where’s JVB when you need him? Quiet ever since Amazon said nevermind. Sidewalks and stop signs are in his wheel house!
Agreed. They should carve one additional flag out of that sidewalk seating area to leave enough room for two people to actually walk past each other without going onto the cobblestones. It’s so much nicer now without that deck in the way.
Great – this jerk can now open a valet stand in front of the gantries to put yet more pedestrians’ lives at risk.