Chef Alex Chamberlain has opened Mei at 320 3rd St S in downtown St. Pete, naming the restaurant after his sister — Mei is her middle name. The concept comes from Chamberlain and the group behind Michelin-starred Kōsen, where he previously served as chef de cuisine, and launches with a Dinner Party menu priced at $95 per person, running Wednesday through Sunday from 5 PM.
The kitchen pairs French technique and a Nordic ethos with Japanese ingredients, built on three preparation methods: koji aging, dry aging, and binchotan grilling. Koji, a mold integral to sake, miso, and soy sauce, has gained wide adoption in fine-dining kitchens as an aging agent that deepens savory character in proteins; binchotan, the dense white charcoal associated with Japanese yakitori, delivers high, consistent heat with minimal smoke. Together with dry aging, the three methods position Mei as a kitchen built around transformation at the ingredient level before a dish reaches the pass.
The room takes its design cues from Nordic cabin interiors and Japanese teahouse architecture, a pairing that mirrors the menu's cultural logic. Two formats share the floor: the main dining room runs the Dinner Party menu — five courses at $95 per person, served simultaneously for the full table rather than ordered individually — while an 8-seat Kitchen Counter faces the open kitchen, giving a smaller group direct sight lines to the prep and cooking in real time.
