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This Greek-inspired eatery has an identity crisis that keeps it a long way away from creating a little Athens on Second Avenue. Wooden tables, track lighting, green and maroon brick walls, and an expansive menu encourages casual dining, but free wi-fi spawns a laptop-lugging set that sticks to the Danesi espresso drinks. You can’t blame them, because the food at Brama is uneven. While many dishes from Astorian wholesalers Titan don’t fare well—such as the mushy rice stuffed into grape leaves—even made-on-the premises fare hits snags. A rectangle of beef moussaka with a mushy béchamel topping makes you yearn for a crackly glaze, and an apple tart, which arrives aflame and doused in sweet Calvados, is top-heavy with gelatinous fruit. The best choices are homemade meze—cucumber-spiked yogurt, roast eggplant dip infused with the mellowest hit of garlic, and sweet, oily roasted red peppers. — Alex Van Buren

Eggplant dip, $7