Two restaurants in St. Petersburg have broken into the Michelin Guideearning spots in the 2026 Michelin Guide Florida selection unveiled on May 28 – the first time the famed restaurant guide covers the entire state.
If St. Pete Patch reported for the first timenewcomer on the water in the city center Elliott Aster and the Tokyo-inspired one Between days both ended up on Michelin’s “recommended” list. The guide’s hierarchy runs from that recommended level through the Bib Gourmand rating all the way to the one, two and three star ratings, so a recommended nod indicates that restaurant inspectors consider it worth a visit.
Meet the two Saint Peters
Elliott Aster brings good food The Vinoy Resort & Golf Club on the waterfront of downtown Saint Petersburg. It opened in May 2025 in the space long occupied by Marchand’s Bar & Grill, which closed in 2020, and is a concept by Michelin-starred chef Lee Wolen and Chicago’s Boka Restaurant Group. The menu consists of Italian steakhouses: wood-fired steaks and house-made pasta, served under high ceilings and chandeliers.
Between dayslocated in a converted house at 2340 1st Ave. S, calls itself Florida’s first Tokyo-style sake bar and vinyl house. Inspired by Tokyo’s underground listening bars, it combines sake-based cocktails and slow-spinning records with a short, rotating menu of small plates like gyoza, hamachi and oysters. The owners said they were “humbled to be included,” and promised “much more soon” on social media.
A very first national guide
Michelin launched in Florida in 2022 as a partnership with Visit Florida, starting with Miami, Orlando and Tampa. It added Greater Fort Lauderdale, the Palm Beaches and the St. Pete-Clearwater area in 2025, then expanded statewide for 2026, sending its anonymous inspectors from the Panhandle to Key West. The full 2026 roster includes approximately 200 restaurants in 41 cuisine typesincluding 26 carrying stars.
Two new One Star restaurants were minted during the ceremony: Emelina in West Palm Beach and Mutra in Miami – while Tampa’s Fat Beet Farm Kitchen and Bakery earned a Green Star for sustainable cooking. “What started just a few years ago has grown into something truly remarkable,” says Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide, in the guide. 2026 announcement.
What it means for dining in Tampa Bay
For a region still new to the guide, the nods are meaningful, even if the bigger prizes remain out of reach. No restaurant in Pinellas County has earned a star or a Bib Gourmand in the two years that the area was eligible, Creative Loafing Tampa notedalthough established St. Pete spots including Il Ritorno, Sushi Sho Rexley and Fortu retained their featured status. Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, which reportedly signed a two-year, $90,000-a-year deal to bring Michelin to Pinellas, is betting the visibility will pay off among visitors.
The awards mark a busy stretch for the broader Tampa Bay dining scene. Across the bay, Safety Harbor’s Tides Market also retained its recommended status, while Tampa had several one-star kitchens. Pinellas tourism leaders have increasingly cited the region’s restaurants, museums and walkable downtowns as reasons to visit its famous Gulf beaches.
“Our culinary culture continues to excel,” said Brian Lowack, president and CEO of the agency, adding that more and more travelers are choosing the area specifically for its restaurants. A Ster or a Bib Gourmand can still last a few seasons. For now, locals and visitors have two more reasons to reserve a table in a seaside resort that is quickly building a reputation for what’s on the plate, and not just what’s on the sand.
