Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome — im cabaret, au cabaret, to cabaret at the posh River Café!
The romantic restaurant along the DUMBO waterfront received a 6-1 approval for a cabaret license from Community Board 2’s Health and Social Services Committee on Wednesday night — which means that dancing is one step closer to being legal.
With the panel’s approval, cafe owner Michael “Buzzy” O’Keeffe’s application will head to the Department of Consumer Affairs, and O’Keeffe’s representatives, who attended the meeting at Brooklyn Hospital, are confident.
“The place is historic, romantic, and it brings people from all over the world,” said Edward Weinstein, the architect vouching for O’Keeffe. “With the great pianist we have and three-piece numbers, people sometimes want to dance, and Mr. O’Keeffe would like them to dance legally.”
Weinstein said that O’Keeffe doesn’t plan on adding space to the café or pushing aside tables for a late-night dance party, but the owner wants the restaurant to become the kind of “old, elegant supper clubs New York [that] doesn’t have anymore.”
Two rooms would be allowed to host dancing among the tables and in front of a piano already in place.
Though the dancing plan was overwhelmingly rubber-stamped, one board member voiced the concern of one River Café neighbor, who worried that O’Keeffe could pass on the business to a family member, who would then turn the restaurant into a hip-hop club.
That notion received laughs from both Weinstein and onlookers.
