At old 400 Beach in St. Petersburg, a new restaurant and cocktail bar
ST. PETERSBURG — The restaurant on the corner of Fifth Avenue North and Beach Drive NE has sat vacant for months. It’s been anyone’s guess whether 400 Beach Seafood & Tap House was undergoing extensive renovations or closed forever.
A little of both, it turns out: 400 Beach, which closed last June, won’t reopen. Instead, the space will soon become Juno & The Peacock, a new coastal American restaurant, and Pluma, a cocktail lounge, both from the team behind nearby Mediterranean spot Allelo.
The restaurant and bar, which are slated to open this summer, come from longtime Pinellas County residents Shawn and Jeanna Damkoehler, who in 2021 purchased the business from then-owner Steve Westphal and kept it open until 2023. At the time, the couple had also bought Beach Drive restaurants Annata and Alto Mare, which they later closed and reopened as Allelo.
When Westphal first opened 400 Beach in 2009, St. Petersburg’s dining landscape looked very different, and the restaurant helped cement Beach Drive as a destination for both tourists and locals. But the spot hadn’t undergone many changes throughout the years, and was in need of a refresh. Though the Damkoehlers revamped the menu after purchasing the business, they decided a full overhaul — and concept change — was in order.
Those efforts are emblematic of the pair’s contributions to the downtown St. Petersburg strip — Allelo has proved particularly popular, both with critics and diners — and what they see as a much-needed revitalization of the area.
“Having lived here all my life, I am incredibly proud to contribute to the growth of St. Pete and bring new dining experiences to my hometown,” Jeanna Damkoehler said in a prepared statement.
The couple tapped creative studio Brand Bureau and the award-winning New York-based firm AvroKO to design the space, which will feature both the restaurant Juno & The Peacock (named for the cautionary Aesop fable) and a separate cocktail lounge called Pluma. Between the two, the spaces will include indoor and outdoor seating for close to 270 people. Framed by lush foliage and planters, the shaded outdoor patio will evoke European-style cafe seating, while the dining room will skew more formal, with an inlaid terrazzo floor and brass accents throughout.
The menu at Juno & The Peacock will focus on contemporary American fare with coastal influences, and include a list of dry-aged steaks, seafood towers and Maryland-style crab cakes. Though the menu is distinct from its predecessor, there are a few holdovers from 400 Beach that will make an appearance with some updates, including the restaurant’s popular Grouper Oscar.
The restaurant’s cocktail program, which is separate from the program offered at Pluma, will hone in on the classics, with modern takes on drinks from every decade, including espresso martinis and Singapore Slings. At Pluma, guests can expect a Latin-inspired cocktail menu — think Peruvian pisco concoctions and drinks that nod to Tulum, Mexico. Allelo’s general manager and wine director Michelle Richards will design the restaurant and bar’s wine program, which will include more than 1,400 wines, focused primarily on New World regions.
No exact opening date, or an executive chef for the restaurant, has been announced yet.
