Well Fed On the Town

I’m going to briefly depart from writing about my local market because I was not local last week. My wife and I celebrated our 4th anniversary in New York City, and over the next weeks I’ll have more from NYC to share too.

On the advice of a friend, and with his help setting up a reservation for a window table, we enjoyed an incredible meal at the River Cafe in Brooklyn. To say this restaurant is close to the Brooklyn Bridge is saying that the shore is close to the water. This place is literally right up against the base of the bridge, and the main dining room is floating, though you don’t notice it. What you do notice is the view … Wow!

I’d never done a tasting menu, and I was really looking forward to it. We got to the restaurant early and waited at the bar, which was very small but included a piano and pianist. I had a rusty nail and relaxed a bit until our window table was ready.

Our waiter, Paul, was very good at explaining things. We started off with an amuse bouche of Chilean sea bass ceviche. What a great start! Paul explained the tasting menu for the night, which was five set courses followed by the dessert of our choice.

After deciding on the tasting menu, the sommelier came by to help suggest a wine. When I told him I didn’t like whites that are too sweet, and that I prefer a bit of minerally-ness, he suggested a Vouvray. What impressed me was that he suggested a very reasonably priced wine, not because I’m cheap, but because it showed he was choosing a wine that fit what we were eating, not just going for expensive wines. The wine was a great choice with our meal.

The first course was another ceviche, this time with scallops with sea beans and a nice citrus/tomato base. Very nicely plated, and just right. This was followed by rock lobster tails in butter with cauliflower puree and blood orange and white asparagus. The cauliflower puree was perfect, and something I am going to have to try myself.

Next was perhaps the best of all the courses, the branzino filet. This was Mediterranean sea bass with a crisp chorizo topping, shrimp and smoked tomato petals and petit zucchini, with charred lemon confit. This was just melt in your mouth delicious! The smoke in the tomato and chorizo was great, and the sea bass couldn’t have been better done.

Now that I think about it, that may not have been the best (I’d love to try everything again to decide!). The next course was Hudson Valley foie gras, sauteed and served on a brioche French toast. This was buttery, decadent and wonderful! I’ve had foie gras before, but this was something above any I’d had. The sommelier suggested a glass of Sauternes with the foie gras which went really nicely with it.

The last of the savory courses was also a great dish, Colorado lamb chops. These were cooked just to my taste, with a Moroccan lamb sausage and mint/mustard seed glaze. With this, I had a glass of Bordeaux, something that would stand up to the lamb.

Last was dessert, which we each got to choose from the menu. My wife chose the Chocolate Marquise Brooklyn Bridge, which was came with Tahitian vanilla ice cream (they make the Brooklyn Bridge chocolate on site), and I chose the Caramel Chantilly, which had both a sweet and a salty component which was a great ending to my meal, along with an espresso. To top off the meal, chocolate covered caramels were brought out… Made in-house and some of the best caramel I’ve had in awhile.

We took over 3 hours to enjoy our meal. Around Cincy and Dayton, Ohio, there just aren’t many places that appreciate taking your time with dining. The staff at the River Cafe was very good, professional, but friendly. The setting was great. The view was unbeatable in the city.

The River Cafe
1 Water Street
Brooklyn, NY
718-522-5200