Eliot Spitzer threw himself a drunken divorce party hours before he and long-suffering wife Silda Wall filed paperwork in Manhattan to end their 26-year marriage.
Spitzer, with his new girlfriend, former Bill de Blasio flack Lis Smith, and six other friends were seen knocking back bourbon and a tower of beer at Brother Jimmy’s BBQ on Eighth Avenue late Monday, after attending the Knicks game.
Eliot and Silda quietly filed for a contested divorce on Tuesday, under the name Anonymous v. Anonymous, after their lawyers were apparently not able to reach a private agreement on terms. It is believed that Spitzer’s huge real estate empire, developed by his father, Bernard Spitzer, could be a key battleground in the divorce.
But despite this, Spitzer was in a jovial mood on Monday and was keen to celebrate his upcoming newfound freedom. Witnesses said the former Love Gov and his pals arrived at Brother Jimmy’s just after 11 p.m., and one spy said, “The whole group seemed pretty excited and giddy. When the server came, the ordering was chaotic; they were shouting out ‘sliders,’ ‘wings,’ and each time an order was submitted they were cheering and high-fiving each other. They seemed already drunk and ordered vodka, a margarita, and a beer tower, which is four pitchers in one container.”
Our source continued: “It took a few minutes to bring the beer out, and Spitzer got impatient and ordered two Jack Daniel’s and Cokes, signaled that one of them was for him, and another for a male friend, but then Spitzer downed them both.
“They were jubilant, joking constantly, high-fiving and really excitable. They were drinking and having fun. Eliot seemed so happy, he paid for the entire check and tipped 25 percent, before he staggered out around 12:30 a.m. with Lis Smith on his arm.”
Incidentally, there used to be a burger on the Brother Jimmy’s menu called “The Number 9” named after Spitzer’s infamous Client No. 9 scandal. One regular sniffed, “It was a beef burger with a fried egg, cheese and bacon — for a man who wants to have it all and likes all the extras.”