Season in review: Two high-profile restaurants on the way and a return to al fresco dining

Two planned high-profile restaurants expected to open in the next 12 months — including one helmed by superstar chef Thomas Keller — earned town approval for main aspects of their projects as they move closer to their much-anticipated debuts.

Plans for Keller’s 6,253-square-foot Worth Avenue restaurant, a revival of the now-shuttered and famous-for-decades Ta-boo, were approved in March by the Town Council, including expanded space for back-of-the-house operations.

The new Ta-boo’s concept is “a classic approach” with “a nod to the bygone era Ta-boo represents,” Jennifer Ottmann, the Director of East Coast Operations for the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, told the council.

“We’re not really looking to change the legacy of the iconic Ta-boo,” she said, noting menu items will include New York Strip steak and lobster thermidor. “We’re just looking to bring it back to life.”

Now the council awaits the completion of a traffic study in order to determine whether to approve the new Ta-boo’s proposed declaration-of-use agreement governing its hours of operation and entertainment schedule, among other things.

Keller, who grew up in Palm Beach County, owns the esteemed French Laundry in Napa Valley, California, and Per Se in New York

Both of those restaurants are three-Michelin-star awardees.

Meanwhile, Palm Beach’s soon-to-be first lakeside waterfront restaurant also has received various approvals by the Town Council, including its request for additional parking.

The 8,390-square-foot 200-seat Mediterranean restaurant, called Tutto Mare, is slated to open in late 2024 in Royal Poinciana Plaza. It’s owned by New York-based Tutto Il Giorno Restaurant Group.

Thomas Keller joins renowned chefs on the island

While dining enthusiasts await Keller’s arrival, other renowned chefs remain busy in Palm Beach.

The patriarch chef of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Italy joined forces with Le Bar a Vin in March to create a new menu for the wine bar and nightclub on South County Road.

Antonio Mellino introduced a small-plates menu at Le Bar with dishes such as steak tartare and lobster-cake slider.

Though he has returned to Italy and his famed Amalfi Coast restaurant Quattro Passi, Le Bar continues to serve the small-plates menu (most items are around $20 to $40) and Mellino is slated to return in the fall to amplify the menu.

Another chef armed with Michelin stars was in Palm Beach in January to headline two dinner events at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach’s Florie’s restaurant.

Internationally renowned Mauro Colagreco, who’s involved with several restaurants around the world, is a partner in Florie’s, where the day-to-day culinary scene is led by chef de cuisine Nino La Spina.

The January dinners Colagreco spearheaded were themed “A Taste of the French Riviera” and “A Truffle Symphony.”

Busy debut season for Mandel Recreation Center’s eatery

The first full-service café at the Mandel Recreation Center completed its first full season after debuting in May 2023.

Along with rec center-goers enrolled in adult programs, Seaview Café has become “a popular spot for kids after school for gelato and snack boxes (with crackers, cheese, hummus and grapes),” the café’s owner Monika Meic Capin told the Daily News in April. “I can’t wait to see what this summer brings.”

Seaview Café, which is expected to remain open until it takes an August hiatus and then reopen with the new school year, serves mostly grab-and-go and made-to-order takeout fare, including organic eats, smoothies and coffee drinks, and occupies roughly 300 square feet.

Dinner-only restaurants debut lunch

Two popular restaurants on the island debuted lunch service in December after having been dinner-only hot spots.

PB Catch, the 12-year-old Sunrise Avenue seafood restaurant and raw bar, launched both lunch and late-afternoon menus.

The fare: gazpacho ($14), rock shrimp salad ($25), grilled chicken sandwich ($22) and Cobb salad ($28), among other things conceived by chef de cuisine Kevin Sawyer.

Acqua Café, located in the South End on South Ocean Boulevard, debuted both weekday lunch and weekend brunch menus in December.

The restaurant — known for its seafood dishes and house-made pastas by executive chef and Italy native Pierangelo Badioli — had been serving dinner only since it first opened its doors on January 2020.

“Adding lunch and brunch was always part of the plan,” Acqua co-owner Jose L. Duran told the Daily News. After many guests this past season repeatedly asked when lunch and brunch might debut, “I knew the timing was right.”

Wine dinners replace stuffy with fun at Café L’Europe

A new energy hit the island’s wine-dinner scene when Café L’Europe began wine dinners this past season with a new twist: trivia quizzes.

Along with multi-course dinners paired with wines extolled by Café L’Europe sommelier Sergio Cuadros, the restaurant’s co-owner Emanuela Marcello emceed trivia quizzes at each event, with fun questions related to wine, wineries and more. Prizes were awarded, too.

Marcello said the trivia component now is a “signature” for Café L’Europe, which plans to host monthly trivia-spiced wine dinners throughout the summer.

Chik Monk expands

Having earned a loyal following since its first stand-alone storefront debuted in 2021 in the Paramount Building, Chik Monk Coffee in mid-January opened a second Palm Beach location in Midtown.

The pop-up is expected to remain open through most of May at 208 Brazilian Ave., where patrons can enjoy and buy, among other things, Chik Monk’s specialty: freshly roasted coffee made from sustainably harvested beans sourced from co-owner Nandini Jayaprasad's family coffee estates in Chikmagalur, India.

“We wanted to offer our coffee and other products to the community around Midtown and cater to those shopping at and working with local business on South County Road,” said Jayaprasad’s husband, business partner and co-owner David Bell.

At both Chik Monk locations, look for bagels, vegan items and offerings from Field of Greens, Aioli and other local eateries.

Weekly specials become mainstays at La Goulue

After starting a Sunday and Wednesday carved-tableside Prime rib special a year ago, La Goulue this past season successively introduced other weekly specials that now also are mainstays.

Among them? A showstopper typically reserved for holidays: Beef Wellington — beef filet cradled in a decadent mined mushroom mustier, foie gras and golden puff pastry — that’s now served on Tuesdays.

Others include frog’s legs on Fridays and Couscous Royale on Thursdays.

After slow start, outdoor seating bustles again

Outdoor restaurant seating — a savior during the pandemic — was menaced throughout the fall and holidays this past season by a series of cold fronts that ushered in rain, wind and/or chilly outdoor temperatures.

The then-dreary weather, which restaurateurs countered by adding portable heaters outside, prompted dining-out enthusiasts to ask: Where did the Sunshine State go?

But after the holidays, Palm Beach’s enviable winter-and-spring weather flourished and al fresco seating boomed once again.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Thomas Keller restaurant plans approved by Palm Beach Town Council