Bill Chait Blazes LA Comeback Trail With New West Hollywood Restaurant

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.

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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.

• Tartine Manufactory Opening Massive Bakery and Restaurant in Downtown LA [ELA]
• Bill Chait on the Past, Present, and Future [ELA]