Brasserie Americana, a high-end restaurant at 30 Cuttermill Road in the Inn at Great Neck, has showcased itself as a French-American bistro.
Now, after months of work, the restaurant is planning to display a new side with a new menu, starting with Long Island Restaurant Week.
“As far as the French-American [cuisine], that’s something we’ve definitely been successful with,” Julio Navarro, the food and beverage manager at the Inn at Great Neck, said last Thursday. “But now we’re just trying to explore a different venture with that.”
Navarro said that he and executive chef William “Willy” Turcios, whom he has known for nearly a decade, have been testing ideas for months. Now, he said, they’re aiming for more of a gastro pub feel – American-based food “with Southern flair” that “goes really well paired with beer.”
The new menu, which Navarro said will be rolled out after Long Island Restaurant Week, features items like brasserie wild wings, French onion soup, lagunitas braised chicken, fudge molten lava cake, and the Flaming Cuttermill, a half pound prime sirloin with American cheese, pickled jalapeños, applewood smoked bacon and habañero mayo encrusted truffle fries.
Turcios and Navarro also highlighted the beer-battered fish and grits, red velvet cheesecake, short ribs served over mashed potatoes and Flatbread Americana, which is topped with prosciutto, ricotta, arugula, fig jam spread, and drizzled balsamic.
When Brasserie Americana presents its new menu, it will have Turcios, a chef with two decades of experience under his belt, in the kitchen.
Turcios began his career in 1999 under Chef Saul Mejila at Matteo’s Family Style Restaurants, learning the art of southern Italian cuisine. In 2003, he became the executive chef at DECCO at the Race Palace.
Two years later, Turcios returned to Matteo’s, helping to start up 388 Restaurant Bar & Lounge in Roslyn as its executive chef. In 2007, he accepted a position as executive chef at Italian restaurant Andrea’s 25, where he worked until two years ago.
Asked why he made the shift to the hotel restaurant business, Turcios said he wanted a new experience.
“I think it was the moment for learning something different and I told [Navarro], I want to learn, how is the hotel business and everything,” Turcios said. “That was two years ago.”
