For most of the past three seasons, the block of Cocoanut Row that used to hold the Palm Beach Hotel sat behind scaffolding. The Leopard Lounge, closed. The courtyard, silent. Residents who walk In-Town on a daily loop learned to route around it.
That block is open again, and it is the most consequential change to In-Town's pedestrian geometry in a generation. The reopening of the 1926 building as The Vineta Hotel, paired with two other named debuts inside the In-Town footprint, has restored a walkable hospitality spine that Worth Avenue and Cocoanut Row have not had in years. This is not a roundup of restaurants. It is a reading of how the daily rhythm of an eight-block neighborhood has shifted.
The Cocoanut Row Reset
The most important reopening on the island this year is architectural before it is culinary. The building at the corner of Cocoanut Row first opened in 1926 as the Palm Beach Hotel. It reopened in 2026 as The Vineta Hotel, the Oetker Collection's first U.S. Masterpiece property, after a nearly three-year restoration that produced 41 redesigned guestrooms and suites, a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant called Coco's, a new bar, poolside dining, and a courtyard that the property positions as the anchor of its programming.
For residents, the guestroom count is beside the point. What matters is that a full-block property inside In-Town has been re-programmed for daytime and evening walk-in use. The courtyard is public-facing. Coco's runs daytime service. The bar has evening hours. In-Town lost a piece of walkable infrastructure when the building closed. It has now been returned in a form calibrated for a slower, more residential pace.
The bar deserves its own attention. It is being introduced as a considered nod to the former Leopard Lounge, which occupied the same building for decades and functioned as one of the few true late-evening rooms on the island. The nod is not sentimental. It is a signal that the operators understand what the building was for.
A hotel bar that acknowledges the Leopard Lounge is a hotel bar that expects locals, not just guests.
What Coco's Actually Serves
The kitchen is run by Executive Chef Brian Rodriguez alongside Sebastian Broda of Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, and the menu reads as an intentional split between destination dishes and daytime rotation. The signature list leans into South of France references, with a Steak Diane and an Eden Roc Sea Bass anchoring the dinner side.
The daytime menu is the one residents will actually use most weeks. It includes homemade pizzas, a lobster croque madame, and a wide selection of salads. That is a Tuesday lunch menu, not a special-occasion menu. The distinction matters because Worth Avenue and its adjacent blocks have historically been thin on rooms that serve well at midday without ceremony. Coco's is being programmed to fill that gap.
Tutto Mare and the Return of the Waterside Lunch
A few minutes north, at The Royal Poinciana Plaza, Tutto Mare opened in early January 2026 and immediately claimed a category of one. It is the only restaurant in Palm Beach with direct Intracoastal frontage. That is not a marketing line. It is a physical fact about the plaza's western edge and the way the site was reworked to open onto the water.
The room is Italian coastal, indoor-outdoor, all-day, with a program built around handmade pastas, seafood, and a wine list selected by a Master Sommelier. For residents, the useful frame is not the cuisine but the setting. Waterside lunch on the island has been a rare offering. Tutto Mare gives In-Town a mid-day destination that reads as a short walk rather than a drive to the mainland.
Le Bilboquet in Via Encantada
The third piece is now well past its opening. Le Bilboquet arrived in Via Encantada on Worth Avenue with the expectation that its Upper East Side and Hamptons regulars would follow. They did. What matters at this stage is not the debut but the settling. Reviews from spring 2026 describe a room that has found its service rhythm, and the courtyard placement in Via Encantada matters because it activates one of Worth Avenue's quieter vias for evening use.
Together with Ta-boo, Renato's, Buccan, Swifty's, Le Bilboquet, BrickTop's, Henry's Palm Beach, and BiCE, the Worth Avenue restaurant density has quietly reached a level where a resident can move through an entire evening without leaving a four-block radius.
Three New Rooms, Side by Side
| Room | Location | Setting | Best resident use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coco's at The Vineta | Cocoanut Row, In-Town | Hotel courtyard, indoor-outdoor | Tuesday lunch, unhurried |
| Tutto Mare | The Royal Poinciana Plaza | Direct Intracoastal, all-day | Waterside midday |
| Le Bilboquet | Via Encantada, Worth Avenue | Courtyard via off Worth | Evening, walkable from home |
The three rooms sit on a rough north-south line that traces the walkable heart of the island. That was not the case in 2024. The line existed, but two of its three anchors were closed or unopened.
A Walking Loop That Did Not Exist Two Years Ago
Here is the thesis stated plainly. In-Town's pedestrian value has always been Worth Avenue plus the ocean plus a short list of clubs and restaurants. The 2026 openings have added a second axis: a Cocoanut Row spine, running from The Royal Poinciana Plaza at the north end to Via Encantada at the south, with The Vineta as the midpoint. That axis is now walkable end to end without a car.
A resident who wants to use it in one afternoon can:
- Start at Tutto Mare for a late lunch on the Intracoastal.
- Walk south on Cocoanut Row to The Vineta courtyard for coffee or a light bite at Coco's.
- Continue south to Worth Avenue and cut into Via Encantada for a drink at Le Bilboquet.
- Finish at the ocean, five minutes east on foot.
This is a route the neighborhood could not offer in the 2023 or 2024 seasons. The construction fencing on Cocoanut Row alone made the middle segment unpleasant. It is now the most polished stretch of the walk.
What This Changes for In-Town Residents
Three practical shifts are worth naming.
First, the courtyard has returned as a functional room type. The Vineta courtyard and the Via Encantada courtyard both now hold evening programming. In-Town has always been rich in courtyards architecturally. It is now rich in courtyards functionally.
Second, midday options have expanded past the club calendar. Residents who do not want to book a club lunch every day now have three walk-in daytime rooms of genuine quality within the neighborhood. That is a change in the texture of ordinary Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not just Saturdays.
Third, the evening ceiling has risen. The Vineta Bar, described as a considered successor to the Leopard Lounge, gives the neighborhood a hotel bar with real ambition again. Palm Beach has had this in the past. It has not had it consistently since the Leopard closed.
The Season Ahead
The 2026-2027 season will be the first full one with all three rooms operating at steady state. Reservations at Tutto Mare and Coco's will be the constrained resources through the winter. Le Bilboquet will continue to draw its Northeast clientele. The residents who benefit most are the ones who already live inside the walking radius, because reservations for walk-in-adjacent seating almost always favor the people who can adjust their timing on short notice.
That is the quiet real estate point buried under the restaurant news. The value of an In-Town address is partly the walk. The walk got materially better this year.
Work With Elizabeth
If the shifts inside In-Town are prompting a closer look at a residence within walking distance of Worth Avenue, Cocoanut Row, or The Royal Poinciana Plaza, Elizabeth DeWoody advises buyers and sellers across Palm Beach Island with a data-driven, discreet approach and access to on-market and private inventory. Reach out to discuss what is available inside the In-Town footprint and how to position a purchase or a sale for the season ahead.
