Lidia Goldner, co-owner of iconic Palm Beach restaurant Café L’Europe, dies

Lidia Goldner, a restaurateur and wine aficionado who for nearly 40 years was credited for elevating the fine-dining scene in Palm Beach, died Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, after an extended illness. She was 78.

Mrs. Goldner was born in 1943 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

She studied interior design at Parsons School of Design in New York and worked for 16 years as a Pan-American Airlines purser.

Fluent in five languages, she married Norbert Goldner, a native of Germany and Cornell University graduate who managed notable New York restaurants, in 1972.

Mrs. Goldner was able to put her perfectionism and love of food, wine and grand style to work when she and her husband in 1980 opened Café L’Europe in The Esplanade on Worth Avenue.

It became an instant success, with a Champagne and caviar bar and waiters in black tie, a formality that would later ease at the restaurant.

The Goldners moved the restaurant in 1995 to a larger space they redesigned at the corner of South County Road and Brazilian Avenue.

Mr. Goldner’s death in 2018 ushered in new ownership and a redesign at Café L’Europe under the Marcello family.

“When Lidia and Norbert opened Café L’Europe, they redefined fine dining in Palm Beach,” Mark Marcello said. “They are legendary. My family feels blessed we can be the custodians of what they began. Lidia was such a gifted restaurateur.”

For 35-plus years, the Goldners worked the front and back of the house, with Lidia daily filling the space with elegant arrangements of fresh flowers, one of her hallmarks. Night after night, Mrs. Goldner before service reviewed the names in the reservation book, thinking about “what we remember about each person, what to ask them, what they like,” she once said.

“She made everyone feel special,” longtime customer Sheila Hammond said. “She welcomed and talked to everyone, whether you were new to the restaurant or had come for years. When we’d dine there on a special family occasion, Lidia would set out silverware, china and crystal from her own collection.”

Longtime Café L’Europe customer Susan Yelvingon said Mrs. Goldner “met the dining moment in Palm Beach for all of those years.”

“With Norbert, she created a dining experience people wanted then,” Yelvington said. “They welcomed us into this old European, old Palm Beach glamour feeling. Lidia knew the heartbeat (of Palm Beach) then.”

Colleagues and employees remembered, in part, that Mrs. Goldner could be demanding at times, but in the service of building up their strengths and upholding the restaurant’s high standards.

“I always understood and respected what Lidia wanted to achieve,” Palm Beach restaurateur Thierry Beaud, whose early career included working in management at Café L’Europe, said. “She gave me the opportunity to help lead the wine program and we spent countless hours together talking about wine and I learned so much from her.”

While Mr. Goldner “brought a cool levelheadedness, Lidia brought the fiery passion and the inspiration; they were a perfect team,” said Daniel Smith, general manager at PB Catch, who worked for years at Café L’Europe before 2011. “For many, Lidia was like a second mom.”

Donald Antlsperger, who for decades worked in various upper-level positions at Café L’Europe, said Mrs. Goldner relished setting the stage for memorable events, including Halloween and Academy Awards parties at the restaurant. “Lidia was so creative and brought style and elegance to it all,” he said.

Mrs. Goldner received various wine-related accolades over the years and was proud of her induction into the Cercle des Amis de la Veuve of Champagne house Veuve Clicquot, Antlsperger said.

Under the Goldners’ leadership, the restaurant earned critics’ high marks and such awards as Nation's Restaurant News' peer-driven Fine Dining Hall of Fame Award and Restaurants & Institutions’ Ivy Award.

By friends and others who knew her, Mrs. Goldner is also remembered as a caring confidante who faced health and other challenges with Mr. Goldner by her side until his death devastated her.

She also was “dynamic and fun” and loved to have a good time when her restaurant schedule allowed, 40-year-long friend Mary Hornsby said.

“We once went to a Patti LaBelle concert and we were sitting next to each other and I looked over one moment and there she was, standing up on her seat, dancing,” Hornsby said.

“One thing I think few people knew about Lidia,” Hornsby added, “is that she was quietly kind to many less-fortunate people and never said a word. She was paying it forward long before that term became popular and never sought credit. She poured her heart into everything she did.”

At Mrs. Goldner's request, there will be no services.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: A wine aficionado, she established the place's high standards