Yesterday Joe Biden fêted his wife with a romantic lunch at Brooklyn’s River Café. "It was a belated Valentine's," said owner Michael (Buzzy) O'Keeffe. A tourist from Oklahoma chatted Jill Biden up in the lady’s room, and the two went back to her table to meet the vice-president, reports the Daily News. "I shook his hand and said, 'Don't worry. Mine are clean.' He said, 'Mine are clean, too,'" she recounted. "They were very friendly, very lovely." As the Bidens dined on pear salad, warm goat cheese, potato terrine, and sirloin steak (cooked medium well) their beefy secret service escorts ordered a pie from Grimaldi’s. more ›

Looks like a community battle is brewing between the River Cafe and local civic groups. The chic Dumbo restaurant now wants a cabaret license to allow live music and dancing, while locals fear "the restaurant won't kick concession revenues toward the under-funded, long-delayed Brooklyn Bridge Park project next door," the Post reports more ›

After widespread reports last summer that Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls installation was damaging lots of nearby plantlife, the River Cafe has gone ahead with earlier threats and decided to sue New York's Public Art Fund and Eliasson to the tune of $3 million for an assortment of damages they say were brought on by their close proximity to one of the falls. Cafe owner Buzzy O'Keefe said, "There were 90 to 120 days of saltwater rain coming down on us. It ate up aluminum and steel. It short-circuited our electrics. We had fires on our roof. The paint was ruined, the awnings were ruined, our outdoor lights are broken, and a lot of our trees just couldn't take it. It's left the place destroyed. They did nothing." After initially denying that the waterfalls were causing any problems, the Public Art Fund did cut down the amount of time they were left on in half during through their run. more ›

Last winter River Cafe owner Michael “Buzzy” O’Keeffe sent out a letter to the media predicting that the under-construction Brooklyn Bridge Park would be a nightmare for his riverside establishment. O'Keefe feared his little park beside the River Cafe would be damaged because plans for Brooklyn Bridge Park call for a pathway through his grounds, connecting the state- and city-owned portions of the park. According to the Brooklyn Paper, O'Keefe maintains the park as part of his $1,667 per month lease with the city, and he worries—whaaa? $1, 667 a month!? That's less than what most New Yorkers pay for their shabby apartments, and the majority of us can't sell $125 six-course tasting menus to cover our rent. Brooklyn Paper has more on O'Keeffe's park panic, which he says was sparked because "when you’re dealing with municipalities, sometimes they’re unreasonable." Yeah... after reading about his sweetheart long-term lease, we've no choice but to start calling this place the Cry Me a River Cafe. more ›

Artist Olafur Eliasson's ambitious and controversial waterfall installation ends today after a 15-week run, leaving sick trees, irritated residents, and a collective 'meh,' in its wake. Last week tests conducted by Cornell University concluded that the soil at the River Café, just downwind from the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall, had salt levels almost 10 times higher than normal. “Those levels are amazingly high, and if that level of salt was in the soil for a long period of time, the plants wouldn’t survive,” soil expert John Ameroso tells Brooklyn Paper. more ›

Artist Olafur Eliasson may soon have tree blood on his hands – the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall installation is kicking up such a salty spray that downwind trees are turning brown and “looking as if it's November,” the Post reports. The saltwater is interfering with their photosynthesis, and the owner of the River Café, which has gardens just south of the bridge, is worried that the trees he planted over three decades ago are suffering too much for public art. The Parks Department agrees they're “showing signs of stress,” and the Public Art Fund, which is producing the NYC Waterfalls, has hired a tree service to try and save them. more ›

We always thought that to drink right under the Brooklyn Bridge you had to either go low and sip homemade concoctions discreetly through straws in constant fear of the cops, or plop down large sums to cover a bill for two at the River Cafe. While nothing is particularly wrong with either, we were happy to find another option. more ›

We were scoping out the Open Table lunch reservations to take advantage of next week's Restaurant Week deals, and unsurprisingly, the usual suspects didn't have availability for 2 at 12PM: Think Cafe Boulud or the River Cafe or Union Square Cafe. Even though the lunch prices have risen 20%, from $20.12 last year to this year's $24.07 (NYC & Company explains this number will remind people that NYC is 24/7 - yo!), Gothamist thinks it's still a great deal to try out some fancier places - even though some of the offerings tend to be boring chicken and salmon entrees - because $3.95 is about the price of a speciality coffee drink at Starbucks or a celebrity tabloid magazine you don't want to admit you buy but you know you do. Where the restaurants hope you spend your money is the wine (or coffee), so if you're watching your wallet, beware of the upsell. However, one area we do recommend you splurge a little on - if you can - is the tipping; even an extra dollar is a nice gesture, especially if the service was great. more ›

An American Place, by Larry Forgione (Morrow, 1996) more ›

take them to a nice Christmas dinner on the 25th. Do you know of any restaurants that have special Christmas menus on the big day? more ›

Gothamist is grateful to be within walking distance of a great concept in neighborhood dining. Chef Charlie Palmer, who made his bones at Brooklyn's River Cafe before launching to super-stardom through his Upper East Side flagship Aureole, is the author of the idea: a short-menu 3-course prix fixe for $25, offering the same skill of preparation that you might find at one of his pricier restaurants but with less fussiness. There are five choices for each course, each of them drawing on seasonal ingredients -- the central philosophy of Palmer's cuisine. The result is a pair of restaurants - Kitchen 22 and Kitchen 82 -- that put much of the "neighborhood" restaurants they compete with to shame. Although the desserts seem less inspired and less inspiring than the rest of the menu, on the whole Palmer's "Kitchens" are a bargain for the quality. more ›

But if the weather gets to be as warm as it was earlier this week, then check out some places with outdoor eating from New York magazine. Gothamist on bars with views. more ›

Take a look at the list of restaurants - they include some of Gothamist's favorites, like Cucina, 12th Street Bar & Grill and Blue Ribbon in Park Slope, Williamburg's Planet Thailand, Fort Greene's Thomas Beisl , and Patois on Smith Street, and some ones we'd like to try, like 360 in Red Hook. Note for deal-hunters - Peter Luger's and River Cafe are not participating, because of the cost of their ingredients; look out for the River Cafe during NYC Restaurant Week. more ›