The Vinoy hotel’s new fine dining restaurant is expected to open in May

ST. PETERSBURG — We got a sneak peek at the new fine dining restaurant coming to the Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg. Called Elliott Aster, it’s steeped in history with a Michelin-starred chef at the helm.

Inside the posh restaurant, we sampled focaccia, marinated olives and other light bites and got a look at the menu coming from chef Lee Wolen, partner of Michelin-starred Boka.

It is expected to open in mid-May, and while photos were not allowed at the preview, they did release this artist rendering a few months ago that looks pretty much like what came about.

Attention is paid to the history, including the 100-year-old frescos that have been preserved and are still prominent on the upper walls of the room, with swirly images of vines, flowers, vases, horses and herons. But even the new elements, such as the beautiful multitiered pendant chandeliers in the middle of the dining room, look both modern and retro in design.

The restaurant, located just to the right of the front desk, is surprisingly vast and broken up into separate intimate spaces, from a semicircular bar to rounded tabletops in the back and closed private spaces. Each of them is adorned with historic photos of St. Petersburg and the hotel from the 1920s boom time when both the hotel and the town were hopping.

The menu shows Wolen’s ambitious and award-winning stripes. The appetizer menu includes grilled octopus ($24) and tuna crudo with blood orange, olive oil and basil ($25).

Housemade pastas include squid ink chitarra with Florida pink shrimp ($32) and orecchiette with Italian sausage and Tuscan kale ($23). Entrees include local red grouper with brown butter ($48) and grilled rack of lamb ($56).

Wolen was particularly proud of the “Wood Grill” portion of the menu that starts with a $65 Chatel Farms filet from a Georgia farm known for raising Angus and Wagyu beef in a sustainable and ethical manner. At the highest end, there’s a 28-ounce American Wagyu bone-in ribeye for $190 from Pennsylvania.

There is a lovely lavender wildflower native to Florida called Elliott’s aster that the hotel is embracing for its name.

The hotel was bought in 2018 for $188.5 million by Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Bryan Glazer. He and his wife, Shanna, took a particular interest in the restaurant, they said, because they wanted to invoke the history and luxury of the property.

“We have an all-star chef and an all-star group,” Shanna Glazer said.