Water world
The River Cafe (Dumbo)
RESTAURANTS • Water Week
Crossing the red-carpeted gangplank into the floating dining room at The River Cafe, it’s impossible not to be instantly reminded how completely, overwhelmingly, and thrillingly water is the show here. Nearly a decade ago, celebrating a January birthday, I thrilled to view the icebergs of all sizes sailing past the restaurant toward New York Harbor. This month, back inside The River Cafe on a bright June Saturday night, the water’s show was just as delightful: early evening sunlight, dancing across churning currents as a sailboat here, a motorboat there, and lots of ferries cruised past.
For a city so closely connected to water, New York City lacks for true waterfront dining. The River Cafe has fit that bill since 1977, when the restaurant opened on what was then an industrial swath of Brooklyn waterfront. Nearly five decades later, the scene outside has shifted dramatically. On the night we rolled up, World Cup fans overflowing from a big FIFA activation nearby mobbed the entrance to the restaurant’s stately cobblestoned driveway (we had received a courtesy call that afternoon to advise that, should we be driving to dinner, our GPS couldn’t be trusted given local road closures).
The very idea of driving one’s own car to dinner in New York City is as delightfully anachronistic as many of The River Cafe’s trappings. Jackets are required for men, and a piano player tickles the ivories in the lounge area adjacent to the dining room. The service is also evidently hierarchical, though not stiff (we particularly enjoyed our interactions with the jovial sommelier).
The three-course, prix-fixe menu ($205 per) also feels held over from another era, but the food pleasantly surprised us. A three-piece amuse set with bites of smoked trout, crispy falafel, and earthy mushroom consomme were all winners. My soft-shell crab appetizer arrived in dramatic fashion, the fried crustacean practically leaping off the plate, one of the best I’ve enjoyed during this year’s season (I am an enthusiast). And while they didn’t break any new culinary ground, our mains — roasted Colorado rack of lamb and char-grilled Niman Ranch strip steak — were nothing if not extremely solid. We finished with the chocolate Brooklyn Bridge, still one of the city’s best gimmick desserts.
By that point in the evening, the sun had dropped below Wall Street’s skyscrapers, and shadows played on the water of the East River as we continued to stare, rapt, out the window. What is it about the dance of water that causes our eyes to alight on it, again and again? That elusive magic is what continues to make The River Cafe an absolutely worthy NYC special occasion destination. –Lockhart Steele
→ The River Cafe (Dumbo) • 1 Water St • Wed-Sun 5-930p • Reserve.