โฒ๏ธŽ This article is more than a year old.

The saying โ€œYou donโ€™t know what you have until itโ€™s goneโ€ could certainly apply to fans of Cafรฉ Panache.

Closed in May because of staffing issues, the European-style restaurant at 931 Russell Drive, North Cornwall Township, reopened June 20.

In the interim, โ€œyou could not believe the messagesโ€ she was getting from cafรฉ patrons, owner Denise Bollard told LebTown. โ€œIt was kind of endearing.โ€

She originally planned to rent the space out to Gabbyโ€™s Italian Bistro, but that fell through because township zoning didnโ€™t allow a standalone restaurant there.

Cafรฉ Panache does light fare โ€“ breakfast and lunch.

Thomas J. Long Sr., North Cornwall Township manager, said in an email to LebTown that the zoning was changed in 2015 to allow permitted uses, such as office complexes and health centers in the townshipโ€™s Office & Institutional District, to have a small coffee shop/cafe within their facility for their employees and patrons.

Cafรฉ Panache is next door to Bollardโ€™s real estate office, Re/Max Cornerstone, which Bollard also owns.

โ€œIt was never permitted to be a stand-alone food establishment,โ€ Long said, which Gabbyโ€™s would have been.

After the bistro rental was nixed, everything just kind of worked out, Bollard said.

She decided to bring back her eatery, encouraged by all the support from customers who missed Cafรฉ Panache.

Bollard announced the reopening on Facebook. โ€œYay! I love Panache!โ€ wrote one poster. โ€œSeriously? Awesome news!โ€ said another.

Business picked up pretty quickly, building over the course of the first week, Bollard said. โ€œIt was so nice to see everyone.โ€

With familiar faces coming back, โ€œitโ€™s like a little reunion.โ€

The restaurant is so busy now, Bollard said, she is helping out in the kitchen.

The new chef is Angel Romero, who has a lot of experience, she said. โ€œHeโ€™s good, his food is good, heโ€™s passionate about what heโ€™s doing.โ€

And heโ€™s a fast learner, Bollard said. โ€œWeโ€™re happy to have him.โ€

Cafรฉ Panacheโ€™s menu will remain, including a lunch special, a soup du jour and a pizza du jour every week.

The menu features a variety of breakfast selections, from muffins and croissants to Baked Stuffed French Toast and Croque Monsieur (grilled ham and gruyere topped with bechamel).

Lunch fare includes brick oven pizzas (Smokinโ€™ Margherita, Mushroom Medley, Dancing Goat, etc.), sandwiches (French Roti, for example, a version of French dip) salads, soups and quiches. Beverage-wise, a variety of coffees and specialty teas are available, along with Boylanโ€™s soda, made with pure sugar cane.

In October 2021, LebTown published a review of the establishment by the Lebanon Valley Food Critics.

โ€œOur take: Cafรฉ Panache offers a simple and elegant breakfast menu and coffee drinks,โ€ it concluded. โ€œThey take pride in the presentation of the dishes. The warm, inviting interior design is a plus for the diners. The food itself is fresh and well crafted.โ€

Bollard described her eatery, which first opened in October 2015, as โ€œsort of European with a French flair.โ€

Everything is made in house, she said. โ€œNothing is canned or frozen. We try to buy locally producedโ€ items and use ones that are in season.

Bollard said Cafรฉ Panache is a โ€œsmall, quaintโ€ enterprise, with a handful of employees.

Itโ€™s open 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.

For lunch, thereโ€™s not like anything it in Lebanon, she said. And the breakfast crowd can get very busy on a Saturday, too.

โ€œItโ€™s a nice little spot,” said Bollard.

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Paula Wolf worked for 31 years as a general assignment reporter, sports columnist, and editorial writer for LNP Media. A graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, she is a lifetime resident of Lancaster County.