For Palm Beach restaurants that have thrived for three decades or more, adapting to change has been key.
For starters, time was when independently owned dining establishments once dominated. Now corporate-owned restaurants, including island locations of upscale chains, command a notable slice of the dining-out options available in town.
After smoking was banned in dining rooms in the early 2000s, fielding kudos or addiction-fueled complaints became a daily issue for weeks, if not months.
The Great Recession that began in late 2007 weighed heavily, after which the Madoff Ponzi scheme came to light, as many Palm Beach restaurant customers were affected.
With the maturation of the digital age, island restaurants realized the need to build and maintain websites and a social-media presence.
Then came tapping into online-reservation systems restaurant patrons use.
With the onset of the 2020-spawned pandemic, restaurants on the island were forced to temporarily shutter as they tried to stay afloat with takeout-business only.
Once restaurants could reopen, the pendulum swiftly swung the other way, with pent-up dining-out demand fueling bustling business to the point of overwhelm.
Any restaurant that has navigated all of these and other shifts and curveballs in recent decades is worth celebrating.
Here’s a taste of Palm Beach dining establishments that have deftly weathered ups and downs and changes for 30 years or more.
We’ve included two that are just shy of turning 30 since they were born in early 1997 instead of 1996 or earlier. They were instrumental in helping one island resort — The Breakers — become a multi-faceted dining destination.
Cucina
257 Royal Poinciana Way
Formerly known as Cucina dell’Arte, this Italian-cuisine restaurant and nighttime hotspot debuted in 1995, then was purchased in 2003 by the Coniglio family of Palm Beach and their partners Irene and Sidney Ritman.
With town approval, they added a weekend nightclub aspect for the after-dinner crowd looking for a good time, giving the restaurant extra appeal for late-night fun seekers looking for an island place to go.
Today, those at the helm include restaurateur-businessman Nick Coniglio and co-owner and Executive Chef Kent Thurston.
Over the years, Cucina’s menu focus has expanded to include a handful of globally inspired dishes (Ahi tuna tacos, for instance, are popular) and embraced locally sourced ingredients when possible.
With indoor and outdoor seating, the restaurant features salads, calamari ($25) Ahi tuna tacos (three for $29), grilled fish (market price), fettuccini Bolognese ($32) and Australian Wagyu beef short ribs ($55).
Café ĽEurope
331 S. County Road
With 46 years of adapting to shifts in the dining scene, 1980-born Café L’Europe underwent another renaissance in 2020: a full-scale interior “reimagining” under new Palm Beach owners.
The Marcello family previously had been investor-partners in the iconic restaurant when it was owned for decades by Norbert and Lidia Goldner.
Today at Café L’Europe — with an expanded bar and lounge, a blue-accented palette and an eye toward the future while maintaining the restaurant’s revered legacy — the Marcellos welcome patrons new and old, whether they “light up the scene wearing jewels or jeans,” co-owner Emanuela Marcello told the Daily News.
With both indoor and sidewalk-side seating, the restaurant’s current menu features such dishes as Dover sole meuniere ($94); lobster pot pie ($68); chicken Milanese ($49) and braised short ribs ($56).
The Seafood Bar
1 S. County Road
With arguably the best ocean view when it comes to dining, this restaurant at The Breakers opened in March of 1997 after its name was used to delineate a 1996 raw-bar section of the resort’s former staid and Old-World-style Alhambra Lounge.
The breathtaking and expansive views of the ocean through east-facing floor-to-ceiling windows come at a price, with one of the most popular items — crab cakes — starting at $45 for an appetizer portion.
Considering how bustling The Seafood Bar is, especially during season, that’s not a concern. And the crab cakes, by the way, routinely are raved about.
The seafood-heavy menu offers such entrees as pecan-crusted grouper ($61) to seafood linguini ($69), with clams, lobster, crab, scallop, shrimp and grouper). A grilled burger is $36 and a swordfish sandwich is $46.
For those who choose to sit at the bar, the bar top doubles as an aquarium so you can watch tropical fish swim under your drink.
TooJay’s
335 Royal Poinciana Way
Royal Poincianas Plaza
The Palm Beach TooJay’s is this gourmet deli-restaurant chain’s founding location.
Since 1981 in Royal Poinciana Plaza, it has been popular with its bakery, takeout and catering business alongside full-service dining with such favorites as Nova salmon, cheese blintzes and overstuffed sandwiches.
More healthful items, such as salads, were added in recent years.
After 40 years in the same berth, the Palm Beach TooJay’s temporarily closed in 2020 before reopening in 2022 in a new plaza space after the chain emerged from a pandemic-spawned Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Current prices are not published on its website, but look for such fare as Benedicts, pancakes, piled-high sandwiches, soups, salads, stuffed cabbage, roast turkey and fixings, burgers and other plates.
Renato’s
87 Via Minzer
Renato’s, in the heart of Via Mizner with its barrel-tile roof lines and colorful climbing bougainvillea and orchid plants, has been a revered spot for Italian-inflected Continental cuisine since 1987.
Since it was founded back then by the late and beloved Palm Beach restaurateur Renato Desiderio, it has been said that every seat in the house is a good one, whether in the intimate dining room or the al fresco courtyard.
Either way, house-made grissini — breadsticks — begin a meal before it’s time to enjoy fines wines and everything from wild-mushroom ravioli ($40) to Dover sole ($85), rack of lamb ($72) or an Italian vegetarian stew ($35).
Executive chef Javier Sanchez and his team also tasty daily specials.
The restaurant is owned and operated by Arlene Desiderio and son Jose Luis Duran, who also own and operate other Palm Beach restaurants, such as Pizza al Fresco and Acqua Café.
Green’s Pharmacy Luncheonette
151 N. County Road
This one-story refuge is a throwback to a slower, quaint time in Palm Beach, when folks like John F. Kennedy, perhaps wearing beach shorts, ducked in for a blender-whirred milkshake and a moment’s escape from fame.
Green’s Pharmacy & Luncheonette, founded in 1938, is now in its 88th year.
The luncheonette (even the word is old-fashioned) is a thriving shrine to mid-century lunch counters with its paper-placemat menus, egg salad and all. Even a makeover with checkerboard counter and new stools and tabletops couldn’t erase its nostalgia-tinged charm with reasonable prices to match.
Founded by the late Murray and Robert “Bob” Green when they launched a soda fountain/pharmacy, the business first was located at Sunrise Avenue and North County Road, just opposite its current site.
Today, the diner remains a breakfast-and-lunch staple for curious tourists and longtime patrons who appreciate a sunny-side-up breakfast, a tasty sandwich, a burger, soups, daily specials and frothy milkshakes.
Flagler Steakhouse
2 S. County Road
Overlooking a fairway of The Breakers’ Palm Beach golf course and viewing downtown West Palm Beach’s skyline, Flagler Steakhouse, named after the resort’s founder Henry Flagler, has never rested on its USDA-prime-grade laurels.
Perched on the second floor of The Breakers’ golf and tennis clubhouse, it steadily garnered fans after its early 1997 debut, but in 2013, its leaders decided on a refresh and engaged acclaimed New York-based hospitality designer Adam D. Tihany to “reimagine” the interior with a contemporary look hued with blue, red and cream with gold accents.
Since then, the menu has been enhanced in various ways, but signature meat cuts (USDA prime-grade) are favorites—house specialties include a bone-in filet mignon ($100) — and popular seafood dishes such as pan-roasted Chilean sea bass ($68) are mainstays.
Bice
313 Worth Ave., Via Bice
Perhaps foreshadowing the chic nature of its clientele and ambiance, Bice’s 1990 debut came with Roberto Ruggeri, Bice Group’s chairman, overseeing a series of A-List parties for the then-new Palm Beach location of his company’s business.
Today, his handsome son, Raffaele leads the day-to-day activities.
With indoor and outdoor seating in boutique-dotted Via Bice., this upscale restaurant occupies part of the space that once was aligned with one of Palm Beach’s most famous 20th century restaurants: Petite Marmite.
Regional Italian menu favorites at Bice range from pappardelle al telefono to seafood risotto and veal scaloppini.
The Circle
1 S. County Road
With expansive ocean-glimpsing arched windows and a locally famous frescoed ceiling, the renowned circular dining room at The Breakers dates back to 1928.
Sunday brunch here ($195 adults; $85 children ages 12 and younger) is a grand-affair treat, with Bloody Marys and The Breakers’ custom-blended wine and a bounty of items offered in the buffet — from sushi to hand-carved meats to salads and signature entrees.
The Circle debuted in 1928. Two years prior, The Breakers had debuted a then-new dining room seating hundreds of people; it was deemed sufficient to meet demand, but reservation numbers routinely outpaced seating capacity.
That led to creating what would later become known as The Circle, a resplendent two-story space featuring marble trim, woodwork and 15 tall ocean-view windows and a 30-foot shallow-dome ceiling featuring a gold-leaf sunburst design and eight artisan-executed murals of Renaissance landscapes.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach restaurants have made it to 30 years through change
Reporting by M.M. Cloutier, Special to Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
