Every neighborhood needs a restaurant that’s more about the diners than it is about the chefs, a comfortable place where the menu is familiar and not a single price sends you into sticker shock. Brick American Eatery at 17th and Lombard brings just these welcome comforts to Center City. Housed in the former Fish and Astral Plan space, the bones of the place remain intact. The small, narrow bar is walled off from the adjacent dining room—a convenient separation for times when happy hour gets noisy while neighborhood families come in with their kids for a quick bite. Even the pickiest eater will find many appealing choices on this menu. There’s fried shrimp, crab cakes, and macaroni and cheese. While serious foodies may bristle at the less-than-adventurous choices, even they will have to appreciate the good quality of the ingredients and competent cooking. It’s a good value, with entrées, for the most part, priced at less than $20, far south of what you find at similar Center City spots. Cape May salts are shucked to order and delivered brimming with their salty liquor. Crab cakes are more sweet peekytoe meat than vegetable or bread crumb filler. The lamb burger is robust, savory and cooked precisely to a rosy medium rare.