Jeremy Duclut, the Mâcon-born chef who runs The Wooden Rooster on 2nd Avenue NE in St. Pete with his wife Liset, has opened Marcel on Dr. MLK Jr. Street in the Historic Uptown district — adding a second outpost for the French restaurant he originally built in Sarasota.
This is an expansion, not a move: Marcel's Sarasota location, on Main Street there, remains open. What makes the St. Pete entry notable is how Duclut structured it — he bought the building on Dr. MLK Jr. Street rather than taking a lease, a commitment that puts him in a different position from most independent operators arriving in a new corridor. Owner-operators who hold the real estate tend to stay; tenants who don't may not.
In the kitchen, Chef Jon works alongside Duclut. Dinner service runs seven nights a week. Brunch and lunch are planned for a later phase, though no start date has been announced, per the operator's Instagram.
Duclut's background in Mâcon — at the southern end of Burgundy — is the thread running through the Marcel concept, though the Instagram post doesn't detail the St. Pete menu program beyond that framing. With The Wooden Rooster established on 2nd Avenue NE and Marcel now on Dr. MLK Jr. Street, Duclut holds two distinct concepts across St. Pete's neighborhood map, plus the original Sarasota restaurant. How kitchen attention is divided across all three has not been specified.
The next milestone to watch is when brunch and lunch service come online at the Dr. MLK Jr. Street address — that fuller daily program will mark Marcel's full transition from new opening to operating restaurant. The building purchase means Duclut will be in Historic Uptown regardless of how the ramp-up unfolds.
