Talk Bronx New York

RE-OPENING OF A FAMOUS RIVERDALE RESTAURANT

The new Riverdale Greentree is pleased to have reopened its bar and restaurant. After serving customers for more than twenty years, the first generation of the O’Meara family have passed the torch to the next generation who have recently reopened with a new warm and stylish décor.

In the heart of the Riverdale avenue, the Greentree’s bar has always been the ideal meeting place to have a casual drink with colleagues after work or to watch a game between friends.

With nearly 200 seats, the renovated dining room offers a pleasant atmosphere complimenting the new American Cuisine of Executive Chef, Edward Flores, along with the extensive wine list of the Greentree.

Manager Steve Selby comments that “the menu features home made dishes that have made the reputation of the Greentree, such as the three cheese ravioli with home made marinara sauce, home made mozzarella, meatloaf and bread pudding”.

With a children’s menu, facilities for babies and a large dining room Selby continues “the Greentree is, now, more than ever the place to go to enjoy a brunch or dinner in a family friendly environment”.

The Greentree’s aesthetics has changed but not its services and philosophy, continuing to offer an excellent venue for private parties, off-site buffet or catering, and carrying on the tradition of sponsorship and charity for the Riverdale community.

About: For more information about this event or any at the Riverdale Greentree, please contact Steve Selby, Manager; Telephone: 718-601-2572
Email: info@greentreeny.com, Website: www.greentreeny.com
Address: 5693 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, NY 10471

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

Bronx’s last independent bookstore to close

Paperbacks Plus owner Fern Jaffe will close her bookstore at the end of the month after nearly four decades in business.

After nearly four decades, a literary giant is entering its final chapter.

Paperbacks Plus, a Bronx community bookstore on Riverdale Ave., is set to close its doors at the end of this month.

“It’s been 38 years, time to let someone else take over,” said owner Fern Jaffe, with a good-natured laugh.

Jaffe and a friend opened the shop in 1970, seeing it grow into a neighborhood fixture that is touted as the Bronx’s only independent bookstore.

Over the years, Paperbacks Plus has hosted numerous book parties, drawing such big-name authors as Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison, Ed Koch, Pete Hamill, Frank and Malachy McCourt, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Roger Kahn, Carol Higgins and Mary Higgins Clark.

And it became a vehicle for Jaffe’s activist streak.

“We were a real community bookstore. If there were issues in the community, we took a stand on them,” she said. “We put ourselves out there politically.”

When “The Pentagon Papers” were published, Jaffe sent 100% of the book’s sales to the Friends of Daniel Ellsberg, a group formed to support the U.S. State Department officer who leaked the secret government reports on the Vietnam War.

When Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwah against author Salman Rushdie and anyone who sold his book “The Satanic Verses,” Jaffe kept the book on her shelves.

Recently, Jaffe fought against a Patriot Act provision that would have required her to hand over lists of customers’ purchases at the government’s request.

“I used to say I should have been a lawyer because of all my activism,” she said. “But I channeled that energy into putting the right books into people’s hands instead. Books can change people’s lives.”

It wasn’t all heavy political statements though. There were more light-hearted times, too.

For instance, every Yankee baseball player-cum-author has held a book signing at Paperbacks Plus, including Yogi Berra, Paul O’Neill and Derek Jeter.

“Every Yankee player who’s ever come through here has been super nice to everyone, especially the kids,” Jaffe recalled. “They made you proud.”

A true Bronxite, Jaffe grew up in Mount Eden, went to Public School 70 and graduated from Taft High School. She moved to Riverdale in 1966 with her husband, Martin Jaffe, and their two children.

Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post