For all the Saints......
This post was sent to me by Barbara in December last year.
I hung onto it..... because I didn't know where it would fit in. In honor of All Saints Day, here is a piece written by "Eve ellen" - her e-mail address name. She mentions many secular saints here... ones who do the right thing to God and to neighbor. This type of saint may never be seen in church of a Sunday, but holy they are in the eyes of God! Thanks, Eve....
My old stomping grounds, the River Cafe
It is a restaurant that used to be a coffee and rice barge moored under the Brooklyn Bridge with spectacular views across the East River - a panorama that spans from the Empire State Building, down Lower Manhattan, past the Statue of Liberty and on to the Verrazano Narrows and the bridge.
It opened in June of 1977. I first visited on July 3rd a few weeks after it opened, because it was the perfect vantage point for the Independence Eve fireworks. One of the bartenders (I call him Jimmy the Curmudgeon) was throwing sparklers and one hit me on my cheek. All of a sudden a man ran up to me with a napkin full of ice and made sure I was ok. It turned out to be the owner - Michael "Buzzy" O'Keeffe. He graciously told me that I was welcome to come anytime and so I have. He now refers to me as "his oldest living customer". He donates "Dinner for Two at the River Café" to the Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Auction every year (God bless his Roman Soul!). What a bidding war that generates!
I usually go there on Sunday afternoons after church. I have my own glass (an Elsa Perreti brandy snifter from Tiffany's with no stem and an imprint for my thumb) which stays there behind the bar. Actually I have had several over the years, as they get broken every once and a while; the current one is not engraved. And my own signature cocktail - a white wine spritzer with grapefruit juice and bitters and a wedge of lemon. It looks very elegant in my glass. I also go on Thanksgiving Day, after feeding the folks at Heuss House, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Fourth of July when there are fireworks in lower Manhattan.
I have attended wakes, weddings, and funerals for fellow patrons and the staff. I usually stop in on my birthday (which I share with one of the maitres d'). After my disabling accident in 1980 (in a bright blue cast from my toes to my hip), and after my hip replacement, I left the respective hospitals and went directly to the River Café, where they treated me royally. A couple of times when my mother was looking for me, she called there to find me. It became a joke: I'd walk in and he the hostess would tell me that the maitre d' had a message for me and it would be "Call youmotherer!" I was there the night before my mother died. Buzzy sent a Mass Card and flowers, and when his mother died, I went to the wake.
On the first Sunday in October, I go to the River Café with my menagerie after celebrating the Feast of Saint Francis up at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, and Saint Paul's in Carroll Gardens. I always offer to take Buzzy's Jack Russell Terriers to church to get blessed (smile). And while it took me three tries, I was there to look at the wounded skyline after the World Trade Center disaster. I burst into tears at the sight. I saw them setting up the fireworks display for the centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge. Sat there with the staff at the bar until 4 in the morning. Now while those fireworks were great, the best fireworks I have ever seen were the ones in 1992 celebrating the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Verrazano Narrows; they had fireworks cascading off the bridge like a waterfall!
When we had the blackout in August two years ago, I walked over the bridge and into the River Café and sat with the staff and waited for the crowds to dissipate so that I could take a bus home. When I was in graduate school and law school, I would get up early on Sunday mornings, go to the library for a bit, go to church, and then go to the River Café. I would plug in my laptop at the little table next to the piano and study.There are also a few regulars that come in on Sundays; the staff calls us "the Reprobates". Vinnie, the local undertaker who just defies description because he is THE stereotypical Italian undertaker, but he is dapper and courtly and quite the gentleman. Carmine and his father Jimmy who supply most of the produce for the kitchen. Henry, the high roller who used to come in with a different woman every week but then settled to one or two; he plays the horses and is a frequent flyer at Atlantic City. The late Rick, who owned a number of business schools. My buddies the identical twins - Harriet and Bernice who are retired schoolteachers. they live in Staten Island and often walk over the Brooklyn Bridge for exercise and attend concerts at BargeMusic which is another barge moored south of the River Café which has classical music programs.
Oh and the music! Some of the finest piano players who occasionally bring in their friends to accompany them on other instruments. They play music that I like, mostly jazz, show tunes, some classical, etc. Richard K, John, Kevin, Richard W, and of course Dom Salvador from Brazil who sometimes brings his samba band for New Year's Eve and rocks the place! I have made friends with many of the chefs. David (who now runs Burke and Donnatella), Rick (who opened Ilo, right across from Bryant Park), Patrick Clarke (Odeon, Club Med, Tavern on the Green; I went to his funeral; he died while awaiting a transplant and snuck pots and pans and foods into his hospital suite and cooked for the staff and other patients). And of course my bartenders! Michael, Jimmy the Curmudgeon, Larry Z, Scott, Ron, Anthony (who is now in real estate and is helping me sell my house), Chris, Tommy, Kai. The managers, captains, and maitres d' - Tommy (with whom I share my birthday), Jeff, Brian, Javier (who recorded an album with Dom Salvador), Scott, Paul, Eric, Celiane, Jackie, Sonia, Nick, Michael C., Patrick, Raymond, the legendary Paul Bridgewater, and Rodney and Dolph (God rest their souls).
God! I love that place! Evadné
I hung onto it..... because I didn't know where it would fit in. In honor of All Saints Day, here is a piece written by "Eve ellen" - her e-mail address name. She mentions many secular saints here... ones who do the right thing to God and to neighbor. This type of saint may never be seen in church of a Sunday, but holy they are in the eyes of God! Thanks, Eve....
My old stomping grounds, the River Cafe
It is a restaurant that used to be a coffee and rice barge moored under the Brooklyn Bridge with spectacular views across the East River - a panorama that spans from the Empire State Building, down Lower Manhattan, past the Statue of Liberty and on to the Verrazano Narrows and the bridge.
It opened in June of 1977. I first visited on July 3rd a few weeks after it opened, because it was the perfect vantage point for the Independence Eve fireworks. One of the bartenders (I call him Jimmy the Curmudgeon) was throwing sparklers and one hit me on my cheek. All of a sudden a man ran up to me with a napkin full of ice and made sure I was ok. It turned out to be the owner - Michael "Buzzy" O'Keeffe. He graciously told me that I was welcome to come anytime and so I have. He now refers to me as "his oldest living customer". He donates "Dinner for Two at the River Café" to the Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Auction every year (God bless his Roman Soul!). What a bidding war that generates!
I usually go there on Sunday afternoons after church. I have my own glass (an Elsa Perreti brandy snifter from Tiffany's with no stem and an imprint for my thumb) which stays there behind the bar. Actually I have had several over the years, as they get broken every once and a while; the current one is not engraved. And my own signature cocktail - a white wine spritzer with grapefruit juice and bitters and a wedge of lemon. It looks very elegant in my glass. I also go on Thanksgiving Day, after feeding the folks at Heuss House, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Fourth of July when there are fireworks in lower Manhattan.
I have attended wakes, weddings, and funerals for fellow patrons and the staff. I usually stop in on my birthday (which I share with one of the maitres d'). After my disabling accident in 1980 (in a bright blue cast from my toes to my hip), and after my hip replacement, I left the respective hospitals and went directly to the River Café, where they treated me royally. A couple of times when my mother was looking for me, she called there to find me. It became a joke: I'd walk in and he the hostess would tell me that the maitre d' had a message for me and it would be "Call youmotherer!" I was there the night before my mother died. Buzzy sent a Mass Card and flowers, and when his mother died, I went to the wake.
On the first Sunday in October, I go to the River Café with my menagerie after celebrating the Feast of Saint Francis up at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, and Saint Paul's in Carroll Gardens. I always offer to take Buzzy's Jack Russell Terriers to church to get blessed (smile). And while it took me three tries, I was there to look at the wounded skyline after the World Trade Center disaster. I burst into tears at the sight. I saw them setting up the fireworks display for the centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge. Sat there with the staff at the bar until 4 in the morning. Now while those fireworks were great, the best fireworks I have ever seen were the ones in 1992 celebrating the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Verrazano Narrows; they had fireworks cascading off the bridge like a waterfall!
When we had the blackout in August two years ago, I walked over the bridge and into the River Café and sat with the staff and waited for the crowds to dissipate so that I could take a bus home. When I was in graduate school and law school, I would get up early on Sunday mornings, go to the library for a bit, go to church, and then go to the River Café. I would plug in my laptop at the little table next to the piano and study.There are also a few regulars that come in on Sundays; the staff calls us "the Reprobates". Vinnie, the local undertaker who just defies description because he is THE stereotypical Italian undertaker, but he is dapper and courtly and quite the gentleman. Carmine and his father Jimmy who supply most of the produce for the kitchen. Henry, the high roller who used to come in with a different woman every week but then settled to one or two; he plays the horses and is a frequent flyer at Atlantic City. The late Rick, who owned a number of business schools. My buddies the identical twins - Harriet and Bernice who are retired schoolteachers. they live in Staten Island and often walk over the Brooklyn Bridge for exercise and attend concerts at BargeMusic which is another barge moored south of the River Café which has classical music programs.
Oh and the music! Some of the finest piano players who occasionally bring in their friends to accompany them on other instruments. They play music that I like, mostly jazz, show tunes, some classical, etc. Richard K, John, Kevin, Richard W, and of course Dom Salvador from Brazil who sometimes brings his samba band for New Year's Eve and rocks the place! I have made friends with many of the chefs. David (who now runs Burke and Donnatella), Rick (who opened Ilo, right across from Bryant Park), Patrick Clarke (Odeon, Club Med, Tavern on the Green; I went to his funeral; he died while awaiting a transplant and snuck pots and pans and foods into his hospital suite and cooked for the staff and other patients). And of course my bartenders! Michael, Jimmy the Curmudgeon, Larry Z, Scott, Ron, Anthony (who is now in real estate and is helping me sell my house), Chris, Tommy, Kai. The managers, captains, and maitres d' - Tommy (with whom I share my birthday), Jeff, Brian, Javier (who recorded an album with Dom Salvador), Scott, Paul, Eric, Celiane, Jackie, Sonia, Nick, Michael C., Patrick, Raymond, the legendary Paul Bridgewater, and Rodney and Dolph (God rest their souls).
God! I love that place! Evadné
posted by Joanna Depue | 11:20 PM
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