THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED The Brass Elephant

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED The Brass Elephant Restaurant Review:

After turning out fine contemporary American cuisine in its last incarnation, The Brass Elephant's kitchen has returned to its sensual Italian roots. With the arrival of executive chef Andrew Maggitti has come such dishes as crimini mushroom risotto finished with white truffle oil; handmade artichoke, sweet pea and roasted garlic ravioli with crisp prosciutto di Parma; and seafood pescatore pasta. The menu still has an American stamp, but even a dish as native as Maryland crab cakes is paired with sun-dried tomato risotto. Whatever changes might be happening in the kitchen, though, the mood at this midtown brownstone remains the same, with gilt-edged mirrors, intricately carved woodwork, sparkling chandeliers, ornate fireplaces, and hushed attentive service lending an air of authority. A series of interconnecting rooms makes for intimate dining, but also delivers tantalizing vignettes of a well-tailored, dark-suited crowd. If such a thing were allowed here, which it isn’t, we would all be lighting fat cigars to accompany our great snifters of brandy, feeling as lordly as the robber barons of old.