Tesse - West Hollywood

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
1

New Bill Chait-aurant™ on sunset in weho.

tesse_20180622_180555

tesse_20180622_180924

menu
since their website inexplicably doesn’t have one.
tesse_20180622_181201

prociutto di parma, duck & foie gras terrine, figs, armagnac
They have an impressive selection of mostly house-made charcuterie. My items were excellent, the pickles and dried fruit in the cup were good too.

tesse_20180622_191142
tesse_20180622_1911421298×770 283 KB

tesse_20180622_183456
tesse_20180622_1834561333×750 124 KB

tesse_20180622_191351
tesse_20180622_1913511333×749 601 KB

blue crab simplissime, whipped potatoes, tarragon, cognac
I never had anything like this before and it was fucking delicious. It was like a crabby shepherd’s pie. Underneath the buttery mashed potatoes was a generous portion of crab meat and poured on top of everything was a rich and intense crab broth that was crabbier than @linus if he was standing in line for it’s a small world at disneyland during labor day weekend.

tesse_20180622_191608
tesse_20180622_1916081179×848 223 KB

The picture doesn’t show scale but this was served in a bowl the size of a cereal bowl.

tesse_20180622_185954
tesse_20180622_1859541333×750 202 KB

Unfortunately the pastas were completely disappointing, surprisingly they were all pretty bland and underseasoned.

ravioles du dauphine, maine lobster, squid ink, currant, seabean
Somebody call a dentist because these raviolis are in the need of a filling. I don’t think I’ve ever had ravioles du dauphine before but I would think there would be some kind of filling involved, this seemed like it was just the wrappers. Besides that it just tasted okay with little actual lobster meat.
tesse_20180622_192736

bucatini with bone marrow, duck prosciutto, brown butter, shallots
Bland and not a fan of salad in my pasta.
tesse_20180623_120503

tesse_20180622_191854

ravioles, comte, herbs, chicoree, walnut
Meh
tesse_20180622_191905

toto
tesse_20180622_182218

They’re still in their opening week so hopefully they can improve their pastas so I can come back for that blue crab simplissime. Service was friendly and knowledgeable.

Tesse
8500 Sunset Blvd ste b
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 360-3866

8 Likes
2

How much for the blue crab dish?

3

$17, not only was it the cheapest thing that I ordered (charcuterie was $23 and the pastas were $18, $21, and $28) it was by far the best. I would have gladly paid more, but you didn’t hear that from me.

3 Likes
4

I was actually expecting it to be more than that. Woo-hoo! :slight_smile:

5

Thanks for the warning and report @PorkyBelly. The blue crab dish sounds wonderful, but if that’s the only thing worth going there for, maybe not. Hopefully they improve over time.

1 Like
6
7

I’ve had nothing but good experiences at Tesse. Have not read this yet but quite happy to see it

8

Surprised he didn’t even talk about any of the six pastas.

9

I’ve been there maybe 4 times (only once it was my choice). The restaurant is good but not great. The only dish that was amazing was that blue crab with mashed potatoes and cognac sauce. The rest of the food…meh.
Service has been great on all occasions, decent wine/cocktail options. Really noisy towards the front/bar area.

1 Like
10

agreed, i went here once and was not impressed by the food. Service was good, but food was whatever.

For the price much rather go to Mozza or Republique.

11

I really enjoyed my experience at Tesse. The service is outstanding, the manager called us the next day to follow up to see if we enjoyed our meal which was a nice touch.

12

It sounds like a perfectly solid restaurant. It seems that LA has a lot of these bistro-level restaurants like Hatchet Hall that get very good reviews but no one ever talks about them again after they’ve opened. LA is becoming a very competitive environment even for very well-received restaurants.

2 Likes
13

Nice review.
Addison notes “a massive pork chop…arrived over cooked.”
This was commented on here AGES ago…wonder why they cannot get that right?

14

Maybe they’re under the false impression that pork cannot safely be served less than well-done?

15

HIGHLY doubtful

16

Really thick pork chops are very hard to get right. I’ve had them at well-reviewed restaurants that were awful, tough and dry. It can be done right though, à la Chi Spacca. But if you’re not going to put the effort into it don’t bother.

P.S. The crabby shepard’s pie is my kinda’ thing! But tarragon upsets me.

17

IMG_4876
IMG_4876828×1792 230 KB

This is a great deal!

1 Like
18

Whoa, thanks for the heads up.

19

feels like a bad omen

1 Like
20

I wouldn’t disagree but doesn’t mean it’s not a good deal for us consumers!

2 Likes