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Bill Chait Blazes LA Comeback Trail With New West Hollywood Restaurant

The prolific restaurateur teams up with a powerhouse chef duo

Bill Chait
Matthew Kang is the Lead Editor of Eater LA. He has covered dining, restaurants, food culture, and nightlife in Los Angeles since 2008. He's the host of K-Town, a YouTube series covering Korean food in America, and has been featured in Netflix's Street Food show.

Bill Chait, the serial restaurateur who helped open everything from Bestia, Picca, and Republique to The Rose, Barrel & Ashes, and Otium, is coming back to Los Angeles with a vengeance, with a new project called Tesse opening in West Hollywood. It’s slated to open by November 2017 on the corner of Sunset and La Cienega Blvd.

Chait announced earlier this year that he’s bringing Tartine Manufactory to The Row DTLA with Chad Robertson and Elizabeth Prueitt (and pizza savant Chris Bianco), but that won’t be opening until late 2017.

Chait is bringing notable French chef Raphael Francois, a seasoned industry vet with decades of Michelin-level experience in Europe who was most recently at Restaurant Le DeSales in Washington D.C. Pastry chef Sally Camacho, who spent time at WP24 and the Hotel Bel Air, is handling the sweet side of things.

Sally Camacho
Bravo TV

Tesse is a play on délicatesse, which means “tasty” or “delicious” in French, and will cook up Francois’s takes on classic European dishes and his signature plates. One such signature is the crab simplissime, a crab dish served with tarragon and potatoes.

Francois’s culinary background is lengthy, but there are notable stints at Le Giverny in Belgium, the Connaught Hotel in London, Helene Darroze, and even Le Cirque in New York City. The interior will be handled by Alexis Readinger of Preen Inc. Chait briefly departed the LA restaurant game last year after splitting with Sprout, a group he co-founded.

Barrel and Ashes

11801 Ventura Boulevard, , CA 91604 (818) 623-8883 Visit Website

The Rose

97 Main Street, , CO 81632 (970) 855-0141 Visit Website

Picca

9575 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90035 Visit Website

Bestia

2121 East 7th Place, , CA 90021 (213) 514-5724 Visit Website

WP24

900 West Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90015 (213) 743-8824 Visit Website

Republique

624 South La Brea Avenue, , CA 90036 (310) 362-6115 Visit Website

Otium

222 South Hope Street, , CA 90012 (213) 935-8500 Visit Website