A well-known local restaurateur is bringing French food back to St. Pete's Historic Uptown neighborhood.

Chef Jeremy Duclut is opening a second location of Marcel, his Sarasota-based European bistro with a French influence, at 1225 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street North.

The restaurant will take over the former Left Bank Bistro space, which closed last fall after seven years in operation.

Unlike his other restaurant ventures, Duclut purchased the property rather than leasing it.

"This is the first restaurant I've owned the building for," Duclut said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. "Everything else, I'm a tenant."

A new speakeasy and lounge is getting ready to open out of a popular, locally owned coffee shop in Seminole.

Seminole residents Bella Rincon and Steven Gonzalez opened the first location of Southie Coffee in Clearwater in 2018, with a second location debuting a year later in Seminole.

Last month, its Seminole shop moved to a larger, 2,000-square-foot space in the same plaza at 13017 Park Boulevard.

The relocation not only provides customers with a larger café, but also allows the business to expand its menu and operating hours.

In the evenings, the space will transition into an entirely different concept called The Hideout, a stylish, low-lit speakeasy.

A vintage furniture dealer is expanding her footprint in north St. Pete with the opening of Atomic Cat Cafe, a retro-inspired coffee shop filled with antiques and collectibles from her personal collection.

Atomic Cat Cafe opens today at 10387 Gandy Boulevard North, in the same plaza as owner Ingrid Bridges' other two businesses, furniture store IM Vintage and thrift shop Ingrid's.

Bridges, who grew up in St. Petersburg, opened a storefront for her mid-century modern furniture business in the Gandy plaza in 2020 with the help of her husband and two children.

In 2024, she launched a vintage shop a few parcels away.

As more furniture sales shifted online, Bridges recently decided to relocate IM Vintage to a smaller space within the plaza and transform its former 2,500-square-foot storefront into a coffee shop.

A new tea cafe serving imported matcha, hojicha, and oolong teas alongside Vietnamese comfort food opens tomorrow in Pinellas Park.

Oou Cha, located at 6251 34th Street North, will celebrate its grand opening on June 11th in the former Moonlight Boba space.

Unlike many cafes, Oou Cha will not serve coffee, instead focusing exclusively on specialty teas sourced from Japan and China.

The 1,300-square-foot cafe is owned by sisters Tammy Lien and Kim Vo, both 19, who launched the concept with support from their parents, who have extensive hospitality experience.

“We’re Vietnamese and we love the Vietnamese style of coffee, but there are already a lot of places to get that around here,” Lien said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising.

After 32 years serving customers along the Deuces corridor, Lorene's Fish House has closed, with local restaurateur Melissa "Melly" Gardner preparing to reopen the space later this month as a new concept called Love22.

Located at 927 22nd Street South, Lorene's Fish House quietly served its last customers on Saturday, May 30th.

Just days later, Gardner received the keys to the building.

Owner of the Three Generations food truck and Coasis restaurant in Tampa, the St. Pete-based chef and restaurateur is transforming the former Lorene's space into a new concept that will debut in phases over the coming months.

“I am extremely grateful to be entrusted with such a great legacy. Thank You Ms. Lorene for servicing our community for the last 30 years,” Gardner wrote on social media earlier this week. “Welcome Love22 to The Deuces, a new era of food fun and vibes.”

Gardner tells St. Pete Rising that Lorene's Fish House closed because its owner, Lorene Office, now in her mid-70s, has retired.

A new hangout for beer, wine, coffee, and dirty sodas is coming soon to Central Avenue.

Craft beverage bar Idyll Vice is headed to 667 Central Avenue, opening in the 935-square-foot space that formerly housed Sorrento Sweets, between The Lure and Graphi-ko Gallery.

Owner Witney Dupree, with the help of her husband Jeff and daughter Rene, plans to soft-open Idyll Vice sometime this month, with a grand opening celebration slated for July.

Dupree describes Idyll Vice as the “sweet spot between a daytime cafe and a bar, a multi-faceted concept serving both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.”

One of the bar’s biggest draws will be "dirty" sodas, which are a mix of soda, flavored syrups, purees, and cream that have surged in popularity through Utah-based chains like Swig and Sodalicious, and more recently gained national attention through the reality series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

“Our menu is going to be set up a little bit differently than most coffee shops,” Dupree says. “It's going to be more of a build-your-own kind of vibe, where customers will choose a drink base, whether that's coffee, espresso, tea, or soda, then they pick their flavors, syrups, or mix-ins.”

A restaurant from the team behind Michelin-starred Kōsen in Tampa quietly opened its doors in downtown St. Pete last week.

Mei is located at 320 3rd Street South on the ground floor of the Camden Pier District Apartments, replacing Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi, which closed earlier this year after eight years in business.

Helmed by Executive Chef Alex Chamberlain and backed by Orlando restaurateurs Jimmy and Johnny Tung, Mei is a new fine dining concept combining French technique, Nordic influences, and Japanese ingredients.

Chamberlain previously served as Chef de Cuisine at Kōsen, while the Tung brothers are the founders of Bento and the team behind multiple Michelin-starred restaurants.

The restaurant is a deeply personal project for Chamberlain, named after his sister.