Pauline’s Café at 1834 Shelburne Road in South Burlington has closed just a couple of years shy of its 50th anniversary. Robert Fuller, the building’s owner and former chef-owner of the restaurant, confirmed that current chef-owner David Hoene shuttered Pauline’s without advance notice in early April. Hoene declined to comment.
“It’s a sad, sad story after almost 50 years,” Fuller said. “I’m very disappointed to see it end this way.”
Fuller, who will turn 78 this summer, said he plans to put the building on the market and has no interest in finding a new tenant for the two-story restaurant, which has about 100 seats. “Obviously, I would like it if someone would buy the building and continue to run it as a restaurant,” he said.
Founded in the mid-1970s by Pauline Hershenson, Pauline’s was known for its classic menu, which included French onion soup, crab cakes with beurre blanc sauce, chicken schnitzel and bananas Foster.
Fuller bought Pauline’s in 1982. Hoene started working there in 2001 and bought the restaurant six years later from Fuller, a prolific local restaurateur who also owned Leunig’s Bistro & Café and led a group effort to open Bobcat Café and Brewery in his hometown of Bristol.
During a 2023 interview, Hoene said he grew up one of 15 children in Boise, Idaho. “We hunted, grew a lot of our own food, and everybody cooked,” he recalled. “It was always a skill I had. I have a passion for cooking and serving people.”
At the time, Hoene declined to share his age but noted, “I’ve been at this for 45 years. All of my best friends [in the business] have retired.”
This article appears in Apr 17-23, 2024.
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