Chef John Tesar Opens 12-Seat “One Art” & You Should Go

Is John Tesar a whack job, as D Magazine’s recent cover story would have you believe?

Is he a brilliant chef, capable of five-star food but selling out for the easy cash of flipping burgers ?

Or, with the relaunch of his 12-seat restaurant-wthin-a-restaurant, now called One Art, could Tesar be on to something?

King of Crazy? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, you win.

charred sous vide octupus with grapefruit segments

dark chocolate soufflé

Scott Barber is the sommelier

roasted redfish with almond milk foam

best gulf crab gratin ever

the menu at One Art changes daily

At One Art, Tesar smells like a rose

One Art shares a kitchen (and glassware) with the Commissary

Tesar even does pasta--this one with a poached duck egg and mortadella

In this Restaurant Rodeo city, where those who hang on long enough win prizes, John Tesar is in it to win big bucks, no whammies.

“There’s no such thing as bad press, and God knows, I’ve gotten a lot of it,” Tesar told me during a preview of One Art, his newly christened communal table dining venue adjacent to his Commissary burger joint in One Arts Plaza.

“A lot of good things have happened to me since I was named the most hated chef in Dallas,” said Tesar.” I’ve been offered a book deal, a television show, a movie–not bad, right?”

His One Art opened today, fully booked, and judging from what I tasted last night, you should pick up the phone and call for a reservation. Right now.

One table. Twelve seats. Two seatings a night. Go with a group or go alone. But go.

It’s an ever-changing menu of simple foods: one night its roasted redfish on celery root puree poofed up with a cloud of almond milk foam. If the redfish doesn’t look right, it might be halibut. Or sous vide octopus, charred then placed on a bed of microgreens and grapefruit supremes–the tartness of the grapefruit playing off the caramelized char of the tender-cooked tentacles like a broken vinaigrette.

The dishes and their presentations are simple. Tesar’s cooking sure isn’t.

In one dish, Tesar poached big knobs of lobster in a briny, concentrated fish stock that tasted almost Technicolor—-bright and lively, as if Tesar had somehow captured the very essence of the sea and distilled its intensity into one tiny bowl.

In another, a gratin of gulf crab, I can promise you, after one bite, you’ll never think about crab the same. Tesar had cajoled every bit of crabbiness out of its shell and into a cheesy, gooey, perfectly executed dish. I wanted more. And I don’t even like crab.

Tesar says he’s taken his inspiration for One Art from Chez Panisse Cafe, in Berkeley, where chefs in a small kitchen let carefully sourced, seasonal ingredients dictate their simple presentations. That’s a load of crap. I’ve eaten at Chez Panisse and its upstairs cafe. Tesar’s One Art is better.

Do you miss Sharon Hage and her York Street? I do, too. But if you allow sommelier Scott Barber to select an offbeat wine for you (glasses are half price on Monday nights) and put aside all the craziness that reportedly flies around John Tesar’s head like so many flies at a rodeo, a meal at One Art–if it’s like the one I sampled recently–is every bit as good as York Street was.

One Art, 1722 Routh Street, Dallas, 469-600-4660.