located in Brooklyn Heights on the promenade, many have also seen it as well. River Café has been called, “one of the great restaurants of the world” and has been named one of five best restaurants in New York, by Gault Millau, one of the most influential French restaurant guides. But so much acclaim and raised expectations can often lead to a very large disappointment. Not so with River Café. Owner, Michael O’Keefe has endured all the praise and with Executive Chef, Brad Steelman, presented us with a fantastic experience from beginning to end.The beginning of this magical evening began outside the restaurant in their lovely garden. We had arrived about 20 minutes early for our 9:30 pm reservation and decided to take a look around the grounds. The garden, in the middle of January, had a serene if not petrified appeal with icicle shadows given off by the Christmas style year round lighting. In 40° weather, we didn’t expect our excursion to last more than five or so minutes. But as soon as we arrived in the center of the garden, we were treated to the sweetest welcome. A tiny white kitty approached us as if she had been waiting for us and proceeded to purr and prance around us, as if she sensed how fond my wife and I are of animals, especially cute and friendly ones. As we returned her nuzzling advances and vacillated towards the restaurant, she seemed to understand our pangs of hunger and began leading us down the path to the café entrance. The doorman surprisingly seemed to open the door for her as well as us as he carefully welcomed us all in. She was apparently at home on the grounds and looks to be allowed in the rather large and ornate vestibule where we mistook the coat check person for the hostess.
For me to say from the moment we arrived we received the utmost courtesy and service would be an understatement, especially considering our initial feline greeting. We checked in with the maître d', requesting a window table and settled in at the bar in front of a view of Manhattan worthy of a romantic NY movie scene. The bar staff was professional, yet personable, the way people who serve drinks should be and the drinks were made with expert care. Despite our reservation we expected the 45 minute wait since that is exactly what the maître d' estimated when we had asked for the window side table. And when our table was ready, it was worth every extra minute. The waiter had to be the highlight of the evening. He seemed to take extra special care of us, as if we were old friends who had made time to visit him during his busy day at work.
The food was absolutely perfect: The Wild Rock Lobster was delightful. My wife had the Black Sea Bass and the tastes she offered me left me wanting more, despite the wonderful dish that lay in front of me. As I was torn between two of the many seafood dishes (Chef Steelman prepares a French-inspired seafood menu), the plentiful and appealing non-seafood dishes seemed to demand my attention. So, I requested a recommendation from the waiter, who I’d so quickly come to trust and he did not disappoint. The Prime Aged Sirloin Steak (served charcoal grilled with truffled creamed spinach, pink peppercorn and marrow basted russet potatoes) was one of the tastiest Sirloin steaks I’ve ever had.
My only disappointment of the evening was the Riesling, which was a bit syrupy for my taste, but was well within the range of expectations for this Varietal. And after deciding my main course, the Cabernet Sauvignon I ordered more than made up for it.
One of the last tables left at closing, we were never rushed and the only time we had to really look for service, was when we were finally ready to request our bill. As we collected our coats the doorman inquired our need for and then hailed us a cab.
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