Tete Charcuterie

Had a great meal at tete this evening and will be back to try the rest of the menu very soon. We opted for the small board and the dessert, along with a few cocktails.

They take their cocktails seriously and do a wonderful job. I do think they could do to add a few different bottles of bourbon, but that's just a nit.

Head cheese was great. Chicken terrine really unique with the lemongrass and ginger. Mortadella would make a hell of a sandwich. The standout for me this night was the pate bourgignon. The quatre epice was a very familiar flavor but I just couldn't place it. Awesome stuff. All of the cured meat was good, and I'm excited for the transition from west loop salumi to their own housemade stuff.

This place won't stay quiet for long...

1114 W Randolph Street
60607
312 / 733-1178
tetechicago.com

Checked back in to tete last night. Every person with whom we interacted on our first visit remembered us by name (wow) and were as friendly as the first time through. We had some more delicious cocktails and great conversation with Josh, the barman. I believe we had a gin martini (josh does this well, with beefeater, dolin blanc, and orange bitters), a vieux carre, and a blood and Chan (essentially a blood and sand named after Jason Chan of Juno, who happened to swing in while we were there and promptly had his namesake cocktail delivered his way).

Brian, working the terrines and charcuterie, offered us a slice of a new terrine - the best I've ever had. Rabbit, pork, apricot and god knows what else made this rich, fresh and just perfect. If they took this off the menu, I would riot.

On top of that free nibble, we ordered the diver scallops, served with spring peas, smoked ham (I don't think it was bacon but I could be wrong), razor clams and morels. This was plated beautifully, and the scallops were, as you'd expect, wonderfully crisp on the outside and buttery in. Yes, $26 for 2 scallops is pricey, but I'd gladly pay it again. A really well executed and balanced dish.

Dessert was a very strong blue cheese,served with apricots, very sweet red strawberries, bitter green strawberries and grilled bread. This was also very well plated, with cucumber flowers adorning the plate in addition to some other judiciously placed herbs. This was great, but I think would be better with something other than grilled bread as a dessert course.

I am extremely fortunate that this place is 2 blocks from me, but my wallet will be slightly less fortunate. A weekly trip here is not out of the question, especially when you get the level of service that they seem to make a huge focus.

I'm a little sad that it seems I'm the only LTHer who has been to Tete, but was there again last night. It is clear that the press it has received is really starting to have an effect, as it was busy from the moment we walked in to the moment we left. We are "regulars" here and do get very good service, so I can't speak to the experiences there that others may have - all I can say is that the chef, manager, bartender, cooks and servers all acknowledge us and personally stop by the bar (where we always sit) to say hi and thank us for coming in.

Some great items we've had recently are pictured below. I have yet to be served anything that was less than stellar.

We recently visited Tete for the second time and both were great experiences. Clearly the highlight of the visit is the chacuterie platter. You get 8-10 items and each one is truly first rate. The small size was a large dinner for me, and the large size a fed three of us after appetizers, although we're relatively light eaters. While the menu outside the chacuterie is limited, everything we've had has been excellent. We've had several of the salads and my wife has had two different preparations of sweet breads. Dessert was excellent, as well.

Jonah

I was there last night for dinner, the food was amazing.
We started off with a charcuterie plate, that had lardo, copa, sweetbread pate and head cheese that were amazing. Then we had hamachi crudo with asian pear and yuzu gelee it was so delicious I almost licked the plate. Third dish was cappellini with chevre, corn with black garlic foam amazing dish and lastly we had phillipino sausge, rice and poached egg. I liked the rice with all its accoutrements better than the sausage. This place gets two thumbs up from me.

I enjoyed Tete Charcuterie for dinner last night. It is a smaller less hectic version of The Publican, with an extensive focus on the cured meats. Everything I had was delicious. My favorite item was the beef cheeks, bacon, and the Italian sausage. Was a pretty easy table at 6:30 on a Friday, but pretty much full by the time we left at 7:45/8. Service was a bit lackadaisical, but the food was fantastic.

Had another excellent meal at Tete last night. The charcuterie board is my favorite in town. We also had a butternut squash dish that was outstanding: grilled squash with sprouted lentils (never had those before!), a yogerty sauce and preserved figs for sweetness. A friend had their polish sausage which had a wonderful smokey flavor. All of the dishes had lots of little touches such as edible flowers added on. There is great care put into each dish.

I walked there from the Loop and first you pass the crowded hub of the Randolph Street area where every restaurant was packed. Perhaps because Tete is a bit farther west, at 7:30 it was mostly filled, but you can get a reservation that day, and might even get a table on a Friday if you walk in. To me, the quality of the food is equal to or better than many of the places where you need reservations well in advance, so it's real gem that is very accessible. I'm also reminded by the thread on noise levels to happily report that the restaurant is very conversation friendly. No need to even raise your voice to talk to table mates.

I have dined at Tete before but wasn't necessarily wowed. My love for charcuterie brought me back though, and I'm glad I went; this meal was stellar.

CHARCUTERIE BOARD half portion

My last meal at Tete, we ordered the full size...which is actually closer to 3x the size of this one. A bit overkill for 2 people if you ask me.

PICKLED BEEF CHEEK VIDALIA ONION, CAPERS, PARSLEY

Excellent beef cheek. Nicely acidic, really meaty.

SHISHITO PEPPERS FRIED GARLIC, SHABAZI SPICE, FERMENTED BLACK BEAN AIOLI


MUSHROOM CONSOMME


BURNT BREAD TAGLIATELLE BEEF HEART BOLOGNESE, PIG BLOOD, BLACK TRUFFLE, PARMESAN

Almost positive this item has been on the menu since day one and it's clear why. This is the one standout from my previous meal at Tete and the one I've thought about quite a bit since then.

PORK BELLY KUMQUATS

I preferred the pork belly rillons from my previous meal as it had a nice bite crunch to it, but the sweetness of the kumquat here paired nicely.

tete is now closed

gocubs88 wrote:tete is now closed

Do you have a source for this info? Don't see anything published.

Tribine is reporting that Tete Charcuterie has closed.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct ... story.html