A First Look at East Passyunk’s Glam New Oyster Bar

From left: Michael Valent, Lauren Biederman, and Devon Reyes; a few dishes off Tesiny’s menu. / Photographs by Chloé Pantazi-Wolber (left) and courtesy of Tesiny

It took Lauren Biederman two years to find the right space for her new oyster bar, Tesiny, that’s expected to open sometime next month just a couple of blocks from East Passyunk Avenue at 719 Dickinson Street — formerly, an old garage. “I looked all over the city, every neighborhood,” Biederman says. “And then, once I found this with all the windows and everything, I just saw it.”

The area also appealed to her, since there aren’t many places in South Philly where you can have a cocktail with some raw seafood — and it’s not far from her other business, Biederman’s, in the Italian Market. Biederman tells me that when she got into the space on Dickinson Street, it had already been renovated, and thankfully, the car lift had been removed. “Luckily, we got it as kind of a vanilla box,” she says. Still, she adds, “building a restaurant from absolutely nothing” wasn’t easy; Biederman designed the place herself, considering every detail along the way.

Inside Tesiny / Photograph by Chloé Pantazi-Wolber

When I walk into Tesiny in late July to meet Biederman, general manager (and Biederman’s partner) Devon Reyes, and executive chef Michael Valent, it looks like it’s almost complete. At the door, I’m greeted by Tesiny’s chic, Art Nouveau-style logo — a cocktail glass flanked by two oyster shells — while the entryway is warmly lit by a series of eclectic lampshades hanging from the high ceiling. There’s a large Perla Venata quartzite bar, which Biederman describes as “Mad Men-esque,” on one side of the space and an open kitchen that will double as a raw bar on the other, serving a mix of hot and cold dishes. And in between, there’s a surfboard-shaped walnut hightop that will serve as spillover for walk-ins at the bar, plus six tables lining the restaurant’s front windows, with banquette seating in the back, all presided over by a large, colorful painting by local artist Aaron Cohen. The vibe is equal parts retro and modern, and there’s a sultry coziness to the decor, from the bar’s rounded edges and teardrop-shaped sconces, to the black velvet seats and dark wood and brass accents.

The bar at Tesiny / Photograph by Chloé Pantazi-Wolber

Biederman’s vision for Tesiny is “a mixture of neighborhood-y and upscale,” she says — somewhere “you can have a fancy evening or a date, but you can also just pop in for a drink and a snack.”

The idea was inspired by her dad, Alan (a silent partner in the business), who has long dreamed of opening an oyster truck. The bar’s name is also a nod to him; Tesiny was the name of the street where he lived growing up in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Being raised in New England, Biederman and her parents share a love of seafood that she wanted to bring to the restaurant as well.

In the kitchen — led by Valent, who has previously worked at Zahav, the Good King Tavern, Le Caveau, and Superfolie, among other places — the focus will be on smaller, sharable plates made with seasonal, local ingredients. The seafood will predominately be sourced from the mid-Atlantic for the raw bar, and include shrimp cocktail, lots of crudo, and, of course, oysters. “I personally like East Coast oysters the most,” Biederman says, adding that the menu will feature crustaceans from Massachusetts and New Jersey, as well as Canada’s New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. There’ll also be hot dishes, with many cooked over charcoal.

And not everything will be from the sea; Valent tells me he’s working on some fried chicken lollipops with “a really interesting sauce” that he won’t share just yet. “There’ll be a sense of familiarity to the food, but there’ll also be some surprises in there,” he says. “I want to have fun with it.”

Photograph courtesy of Tesiny

At the bar, there’ll be “a really classic wine program,” Biederman says, with bottles from Spain and Italy, as well as Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia. “We’d like to get a little bit funky with the Eastern European stuff,” she adds, noting that they’ll also be pouring Champagne to go with the oysters, of course. There’ll be a full coffee program with Rival Bros., and a comprehensive cocktail list, too. For the latter, Biederman is drawing on her former experience as a bartender at Osteria and Double Knot, and envisions a rainbow of drinks. She’s working on a pink Gibson right now, she tells me, adding that she “want[s] every cocktail to be a different color.” There’ll be plenty of tequila and mezcal, fruit-forward flavors like passion fruit and guava, and martinis with Biederman’s preferred garnish. “We’ll have blue cheese olives if anyone’s worried, because I love them too,” she says.

Photograph courtesy of Tesiny

Biederman says the oyster bar’s official opening date will come after a friends-and-family week. And when Tesiny is open to the public — they’re now in the process of hiring, with final inspections due to take place soon — the bar will be first come, first served, with seats at the raw bar and all tables reservable to guests in advance on Resy. The bar’s hours will be 5 p.m. through 10 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday, though Biederman is considering staying open a little longer on weekends. “If it gets rowdy and people want to stay, maybe we’ll extend,” she says. After working on Tesiny for a while, it’s clear Biederman can’t wait for the space to come alive.