Michael’s: Something for everyone

By Carol Brock

MICHAEL'S
33-17 Broadway, Astoria

726-7474

I think I have the restaurant for you.

It's never easy to find just the right spot to lunch or sup solo. Or to find a perfect place to take “just family” for dinner. Or one where both the info generation and blue locks feel equally at ease in pairs or alone.

That place is Michael's on Broadway in Astoria. It's close enough to the super-savers on Northern to make it a post-shopping stop or a brunch pre-shopping sustainer par excellence.

I stumbled onto Michael's after a morning's shopping while waiting for my four-by-four's brakes to be serviced. Michael's has been on the scene for 55 years starting two doors down. The present owner (number three), Angelo, was associated with it for 21 of those years. Now it's a brick-lined restaurant with a gallery of black and white photos of the Astoria of yore framed, side by side, with a color shot of the same location as it looks today.

The restaurant's layout functions well for ease of serving and diners' sight lines. The comfortable center booths with marble table tops are just the right height for both privacy and perusing. I chose the tables for two backing them.

A discrete diner style counter (Michael's was once a traditional diner) is in the rear. (The new Michael's is a stylish, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week restaurant. There's a lot of action on today's Broadway.)

A mini bar up front takes care of drink orders. Another in the rear provides coffee and water for serving. The door to the kitchen is open so you can catch a glimpse of servers and cooks in action.

The menu is very much American (and the staff comes from Bolivia, Brazil, Egypt, Nicaragua and Greece, and that's American, too) with an entire page devoted to pastas. (Today that's also very American even though it took from 1492 to l992 to get there).

Yet Michael's Greek chef hasn't forsaken his heritage. I did take -out, and found the moussaka and spinach pie super. The moussaka had just the right amount of eggplant, and the custard topping was delicioso. The spinach pie with a few potato slices on the bottom was a creamy delight. It comes with vegetables of the day and a good sized tossed salad, a choice of dressing and bread sticks – even for take-out.

At Michael's you have the option of ordering breakfast items for luncheon. The under-30 crowd was forking into plate-sized pancakes. At one couple's table, he had a side of bacon and sausages. She had hers topped with an amazing amount of sliced strawberries given the price for late November. Some young couples were sipping milk shakes in lieu of coffee at luncheon.

On my second visit I went for the breakfast. There are many possibilities – but I can say that the Irish coffee was a gem, and there was great ham and bacon, pudding, and sausage.

The first time around, I went for the spaghetti and fish cakes, pure nostalgia food. Two other diners nearby were also of the same mind. I smiled when it was set before me; it had been updated and was the very picture of a 2000 presentation. Get this: a large flat soup dish with broad brim was filled rim to rim with spaghetti with two petite fish cakes perched on top, a scattering of chopped parsley decorating the rim. And I assure you, the pasta was al dente, which it certainly wasn't way back then.

My dessert was delightfully homemade tasting and looking – a lovely coconut layer cake. I had ogled the chocolate -filled and frosted layer cake with a circle of walnut halves around the edge.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Attractive new location for 55-year-young, 24-hour, seven-day-a-week restaurant. Fine American food. Lots of pastas. Good service and you can choose your favorite server.

Chef's Choice

Fried calamari…$5.95

Bruschetta with shrimp…$7.95

Stuffed mushroom with crab

meat…$4.95

Seafood pasta…$13.95

Broiled shell steak…$16.95

Strawberry cheese cake…$3.95

Black and white mousse…$3

Food: American. Breakfast, lunch,

dinner

Setting: New, brick-lined. Located two