Cafe L’Europe will be able to serve lunch on weekends, after initially seeking a weeklong service to supplement its popular Palm Beach dinners.
It’s a move co-owner Jennifer Marcello said she hopes will keep her “truly local business” alive and competitive.
“We are here for our community 365 days a year,” she told the Town Council during a recent meeting. “Cafe L’Europe is a labor of love for the Marcello family.”
The council voted unanimously during the May 13 development review meeting to approve a declaration of use agreement that permits the French-inspired bistro at 331 S. County Road to serve lunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:30 a.m. until dinner service begins.
The two-day lunch service marked a compromise offered by Marcello as council members expressed concerns about approving a plan that could add traffic and complicate parking in the busy Midtown stretch along South County Road near the restaurant.
Council members had expressed similar concerns at the April 15 meeting, when they approved a measure to modify the restaurant’s existing special exception to add hours of service for lunch. At that meeting, the council levied a number of conditions to include in the declaration of use, including the need to have staff park off the island and limit the number of seats offered for the lunch service.
Under the approved declaration of use agreement — a document that is essentially a contract between the business and town that lays out the conditions under which the restaurant can operate — Cafe L’Europe can offer up to 62 seats for lunch patrons.
Marcello said she felt the plan to have restaurant workers park somewhere else and then come to the island to work would add to traffic instead of help it. She also referred to other restaurants that are open seven days a week for lunch and do not have dedicated parking for staff or diners.
“It’s confusing and I think it’s a little unfair,” Marcello said.
The parking lot behind the building has 23 spaces, which are shared with the building’s two other tenants, Le Bazaar and Valley Bank, town staff have said. Cafe L’Europe had proposed using valet parking to make the most of its 11 spaces in the lot, stacking cars behind one another and fitting 24 vehicles into those spots, according to documents submitted to the town.
Once Marcello offered to only serve lunch on Saturdays and Sundays — when the other two businesses in the building are closed and the restaurant can use every space in the parking lot for both staff and patrons — the council quickly approved the declaration of use.
Cafe L’Europe first opened in 1980 in The Esplanade on Worth Avenue, then moved to its location on South County Road 31 years ago, Marcello said. She and her husband Rocco have had a home in Palm Beach for 39 years. Their son Mark Marcello and his wife Emanuela also have a stake in the family business.
The restaurant previously offered a lunch service but did away with it in 2013, Jennifer Marcello told the council.
Council Member Julie Araskog joined the May 13 meeting virtually but did not vote on the measure. Via phone, she said during the meeting that she supported the restaurant offering weekend lunch service.
The declaration of use agreement includes a requirement for the restaurant to return to the council to review the list of conditions after its first three months of operating between Nov. 1 and April 30. The agreement also outlines how trash must stored and where deliveries must be made to the restaurant.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Cafe L’Europe in Palm Beach gets OK to offer weekend lunch service
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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