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Brick Café was truly a labor of love for its founder, the late Adnan Krilic: He hand-crafted the eatery's tin ceiling, antique mirrors and other country touches. He applied the same personal touch to the food, which vacillates between Euro-centric and charmingly eccentric. Some appetizers double as meals, like the tangy octopus carpaccio, which is buried under enough fennel salad as to suggest the set of a Beckett play. If you truly want starters, stick to the briny-fresh mussels or the vegan-friendly Brick Salad (hearts of palm, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumbers, Parmesan shavings). As for entrées, cooked-to-order pastas form ranks: pappardelle, with salmon and asparagus drizzled in brandy cream sauce, leads the squad. The meat entrées, meanwhile, cover all bases, like the lean grilled chicken paillard which is hearty but messy when sitting atop greens, and the pan-roasted duck breast, sauced in orange and green peppercorns. After eating, repair to the adjoining Brick Bar for cordials and conversation. — Leonard Jacobs

Pan-roasted breast of duck, $17.95; grilled New Zealand baby lamb, $21.95