Feed The Family

by Jen And Jeff Banowetz

If your idea of family-friendly dining generally entails a certain flame-haired clown or a cheesy rodent, then it's time to explore other possibilities. With its family-style menu and chummy staff, Tessa's is bound to please your hungry famiglia e amici. Note: This review really should be billed as Table for Four (including one high chair and one booster).

The scene

Thanks to the slick design as well as the lack of primary colors and cartoon characters, both adults and children will feel welcome in this comfortable-yet-urban-looking space, which actually spans three floors. While the main dining area and bar reside on the first floor, a long flight of stairs (or quick elevator ride) will take you to the second floor as well as rooftop wine cellar (go figure) and balcony, reserved territory for private parties. The second floor boasts a bird's-eye view of Jefferson from the banquet room (which can be divvied up by green velvety curtains.) Up on the roof, an open-air veranda with cozy patio furniture is adjacent to another glassed-in dining area.

Back on street level, the bustling dining room hosts plenty of families without making one feel stuck in Kid Central. It's certainly not the quietest of eateries (read: high ambient noise), but that's not such a bad thing if you have a table full of young-uns or a newborn who belts out the occasional wail-alert (like ours did). With crayons corralled in former tomato-paste cans on every table, coloring on the white paper toppers is obviously encouraged.

The food

For starters, the Calamari Fritti ($9) was perfectly crunchy and not greasy, though the Proscuitto Wrapped Shrimp ($9) seemed promising but turned out to be overly salty. The dry-cured ham did prove itself better in the Baby Spinach with Proscuitto Salad ($6) that also featured cantaloupe, blue cheese and basalmic vinegar.

While Tessa's features family-style dining (basically multiple choices to share from a three-course list at a per person rate), you can order almost anything on the menu and find it generously proportioned for sharing. The Sausage and Goat Cheese Rigatoni ($13) featured a hearty red sauce and sausage with just enough kick to be tamed by the mild goat cheese. Another winner was the Chicken Farfalle with Garlic Basil Cream Sauce ($12), which featured just the right amount of garlic and didn't allow the cream to overwhelm the sauce. Stick with pasta: The Mushroom Chianti Risotto ($8) was just too heavy.

We went with half-orders of everything and still carted home plenty of leftovers, leaving us to speculate just how massive a full order would be. You'll be eating well for the next few days.

Keeping true to its family mission, there's also a thoughtful kids menu that includes a Whole Petite Chicken ($11) as well as Filet Mignon ($12), both with veggies and garlic whipped potatoes. The kids Baked Lasagna (easily adult-size) is a steal at four bucks.

If, miraculously, you still have room for dessert, the Big "Uge" Chocolate Cake ($7) was exactly "Layer after Layer of Nothing but Chocolate." So be prepared to indulge-and share.

If you're daring: The Brick thin-crust pizza ($20) with "Everything but our Kitchen Sink!" is truly loaded. Thinking the name merely was playing homage to the previous Brick House Pizzeria, we discovered the title indubitably applies to the pie's heft.

Safe bet: Leave a tip. Take the homemade cannoli ($7).

Word of mouth: Upscale family-style dining with plenty of primo space for private parties

Tessa's | 16 W. Jefferson Ave. | 630.357.9200