Brooklyn-style Italian restaurant Pelato will replace Sesh on 4th Street in St. Pete
/Pelato, a Brooklyn-Italian restaurant, will open at 2221 4th Street North, formerly home to Sesh St. Pete and, before that, The Melting Pot | St. Pete Rising
After more than three decades as The Melting Pot and a short run as Sesh St. Pete, the building on 4th Street North will now become home to a Brooklyn-Italian restaurant built around the food one family grew up eating.
Pelato, a Brooklyn-Italian restaurant known for shareable small plates, is planning to open at 2221 4th Street North.
Nashville-based Avenue T Hospitality Group recently purchased the 7,630-square-foot property for $4 million, according to a deed recorded October 7th.
The hospitality group, which operates Pelato locations in Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee, and Charleston, South Carolina, also obtained a $5.355 million loan from Pinnacle Bank in connection with the purchase.
An opening date has not been announced.
Pelato was created by chef and restaurateur Anthony Scotto (left) and his family | Pelato
Pelato was created by chef and restaurateur Anthony Scotto and his wife, Teresa, after they relocated from New York to Nashville in 2022. The first location opened in Nashville in 2023, followed by restaurants in Charleston and Franklin.
The restaurant’s menu is built for the table rather than a traditional entree-and-sides format.
One of its signature dishes, the potato croquettes, is based on Teresa’s mother’s recipe.
Other plates include panelle with whipped ricotta, Brooklyn-style fried calamari, and chicken scarpariello from Anthony’s family.
The menu also includes house-made pastas such as radiatori vodka and bucatini cacio e pepe, along with chicken parmigiana, baked stuffed shells, and stromboli.
The drinks lean into the same New York-meets-Italian theme. In addition to wine and Italian beer, Pelato serves frozen cocktails such as an espresso martini and apple cider cocktail, along with a New York Sour, espresso old fashioned, limoncello margarita, cucumber spritz, and sangria.
On Sundays, the restaurant offers a Sunday Sauce dinner for two, built around the Italian-American tradition of gathering around a pot of tomato sauce that has simmered for hours.
Pelato’s baked stuffed shells | Pelato
The meal is meant to recall the kind of family dinner where bread, wine, stories, and a full table are as much a part of the occasion as the food.
That sense of family history should fit a building with plenty of its own.
The English-cottage-style structure was built in the 1930s by Earl Gresh, who operated the space as the Earl Gresh Wood Parade tourist attraction. It later housed French restaurant Rollande et Pierre from 1959 to 1985, then The Melting Pot for more than three decades.
Mad Beach Craft Brewing Company founder Matthew Powers purchased the property in 2021 for $1.425 million and renovated it before opening Sesh in 2023. The restaurant and brewpub closed permanently in late 2025.
The property includes an indoor-outdoor bar facing 4th Street North, a patio, and a large main dining room centered around a brick chimney.
An expected opening date for Pelato has not yet been announced.
The Frozen Espresso martini from Pelato | Pelato
