River Café

The story

The River Café runs its own ferry from Wall Street — and has since 1981, long before the neighborhood now called Dumbo had any public water access. Michael "Buzzy" O'Keeffe spent twelve years securing permits before opening the restaurant on a former coffee barge beneath the Brooklyn Bridge in summer 1977. In a city where fine dining meant French wines, he served high-end California bottles and pioneered local, organic, and free-range food. His bet on a derelict stretch of waterfront helped shape what the neighborhood became. After Hurricane Sandy heavily damaged it in 2012, the café reopened in February 2014.