Savor the Best Desserts in Redlands: Cheesecake, Crème Brûlée, and the Signature Tartan Special
Dinner may be the reason you made the reservation, but dessert is the reason you’ll talk about the meal for weeks. At Tartan of Redlands, the final course is no afterthought — it’s a deliberate act of hospitality, a way of saying the evening isn’t quite finished yet. And if you’ve been searching for the best desserts in Redlands, your search ends here.
Whether you’re a loyal regular who lingers over after-dinner coffee, or a first-time visitor who just discovered this gem nestled in the heart of the Inland Empire, Tartan’s dessert menu tells a story of European technique meeting California comfort. Here’s a closer look at the sweet highlights that have guests turning down the last bites of their entrée just to save room.
A Restaurant That Has Earned Its Place in Redlands History
Before we talk about what’s on the dessert plate, it helps to understand the hands that have been preparing plates here for over six decades.
Tartan of Redlands first opened its doors on April 15, 1964 — a time when Redlands was a quieter city and a good steakhouse meant something to the community it served. The restaurant was founded by three brothers: Velmer, Al, and Art Ctoteau. Their founding philosophy wasn’t complicated. They wanted to serve exceptional food in an environment where guests felt genuinely welcomed, not processed. That philosophy sounds simple because it is — and it’s exactly the kind of simplicity that proves almost impossible to sustain across decades without real commitment.
The restaurant has changed hands over the years, but remarkably, its identity has not. Larry Westin became part of the Tartan story later, working alongside the founding family to help shape the restaurant’s direction and deepen its roots in the community. When Larry passed away in 2003, his son Larry Westin Jr. carried the family’s involvement forward, stewarding the restaurant until 2015.
Today, Tartan of Redlands is led by Jeff and Lisa Salamon — a couple who approach ownership not as operators of a business, but as caretakers of a legacy. Jeff, a former Marine originally from Boston, brings a disciplined work ethic and a clear-eyed sense of what the restaurant owes its community: consistency, honest hospitality, and the kind of quiet reliability that keeps a dining room full on a Tuesday night just as reliably as a Saturday. Lisa’s presence ensures the restaurant retains its warmth and personal touch, the quality that makes first-time visitors feel like they’ve been coming here for years.
What the Salamons have preserved is something genuinely rare in modern dining: a neighborhood restaurant that actually behaves like one. Tartan isn’t performing authenticity — it is authentic, because it has been earning that description since before most of its current regulars were born.
Sixty Years of the Same Promise
A restaurant that survives sixty years in a single city doesn’t do so by accident. It does so by returning the same value to its guests, season after season, ownership transition after ownership transition. Tartan’s menu reflects that long continuity — staying rooted in the steakhouse tradition that defined it from the beginning while remaining attentive enough to evolve where it should.
The Saturday prime rib has become something of a Redlands institution. High-quality steaks remain the backbone of the dinner menu. The signature Redlands Tartan Burger has developed its own loyal following among guests who prefer their loyalty expressed through ground beef rather than filet. A full bar rounds out the experience, making Tartan equally suited to a quick after-work drink with a colleague or a long, unhurried dinner with people you love.
The dining room itself — with both indoor tables and a patio — has hosted graduations, anniversaries, first dates that became marriages, and the kind of ordinary Wednesday dinners that somehow become cherished memories years later. That’s what a neighborhood gathering place actually does. It becomes part of the texture of people’s lives without anyone deciding it should. It just keeps showing up, keeps being good, and quietly becomes irreplaceable.
Why Dessert Matters More Than You Think
In a restaurant, the dessert course carries disproportionate weight. Research in hospitality psychology consistently shows that the final moments of a dining experience shape the overall memory of the meal far more than the middle courses do. A beautifully executed dessert doesn’t just satisfy a sweet tooth — it reframes the entire evening into something worth repeating.
Tartan of Redlands understands this. The kitchen approaches sweet finishes with the same intentionality it brings to its savory courses: seasonal thinking, quality sourcing, and a deep respect for the craft. The result is a dessert menu that feels earned, not appended.
The Cheesecake: Subtle, Rich, and Dangerously Good
Dense without feeling heavy. Silky without being saccharine. Tartan’s cheesecake walks a delicate structural line that most restaurants never quite find. The filling carries that distinctive tang that separates a properly made cheesecake from something merely sweet, and the crust holds firm without becoming a jaw workout. It’s often finished with a seasonal fruit compote or a dark berry reduction that cuts through the richness with welcome acidity.
What makes Tartan’s cheesecake stand out in a landscape full of decent-but-forgettable versions is restraint. There’s no unnecessary gilding — no mountainous whipped cream towers, no candy garnishes for their own sake. The confidence lies in the quality of the base itself. If you’re the type who quietly evaluates cheesecake wherever you eat, this one will recalibrate your expectations for Redlands desserts going forward.
It pairs exceptionally well with a late-harvest Riesling or a dessert Moscato, if you’re inclined to let the beverage program do a little extra work for you.
The Crème Brûlée: A Classic, Executed Without Shortcuts
Crème brûlée is one of those desserts that reveals everything about a kitchen in a few quiet spoonfuls. The custard beneath Tartan’s caramelized shell is gentle, trembling slightly at the touch — the mark of proper temperature control and resting time that most busy kitchens skip. The sugar crust shatters with the satisfying crack you came for, and the vanilla fragrance underneath is unmistakably real, not simulated.
The French got this recipe right centuries ago, and the worst thing a kitchen can do is overcomplicate it. Tartan’s team doesn’t. The torch work is even, the crust is thin enough to crack cleanly but thick enough to offer real caramel depth, and the custard-to-shell ratio is exactly as it should be. It’s a deeply honest dessert — nothing hidden, nothing overcorrected, just the pleasure of something prepared well.
For anyone who’s grown up associating crème brûlée with mediocre hotel banquet rooms, Tartan’s version is a rehabilitation of the form. This is what the dish was always supposed to be.
The Tartan Special: A Dessert That Belongs to This Place
This is the one you come back for. Inspired by Scottish-influenced comfort and California’s abundance of premium ingredients, the Tartan Special is the dessert that most defines the restaurant’s character. Expect warm elements meeting cool ones, textures that shift as you move through the dish, and flavor combinations that feel simultaneously familiar and surprising. It’s the kind of dessert that prompts a pause mid-bite while you process what just happened.
Ask your server about the current version when you visit — the Tartan Special evolves gently with the seasons, which means repeat guests are always experiencing something slightly new. It’s a brilliant approach to a signature dish: anchored enough to be a destination, alive enough to give regulars a reason to return and compare notes.
If you’re visiting Redlands for the first time and someone asks what to order at Tartan, the answer is simple: save room, and end with the Tartan Special. It will tell you more about the restaurant’s culinary identity than any other item on the menu.
A Few Practical Notes for the Sweet-Minded Diner
Tartan’s desserts are made fresh and some require a few minutes of preparation — particularly the crème brûlée, which benefits from the torch being applied to order. If your table is on a schedule, let your server know early so the kitchen can sequence things properly. There’s nothing worse than a perfect dessert arriving too late to enjoy at leisure.
These are also generous, honest portions — not the architectural micro-desserts you’d find at certain trend-forward restaurants where the spun sugar weighs more than the actual food. Come strategically hungry. You won’t regret ordering the full plate.
For beverages, Tartan’s after-dinner program is worth exploring. A well-made espresso alongside the cheesecake is a classic pairing. If you’re in the mood for something more leisurely, ask about the current selection of fortified wines or digestifs — the team tends to have a few well-chosen bottles that rarely make the main menu but are always worth inquiring about.
Redlands Has a Dessert Worth Driving For
The Inland Empire dining scene has come a long way, and conversations about the region’s best restaurants increasingly point toward a handful of establishments that have chosen depth over trend. Tartan of Redlands is firmly in that camp — not because it’s chasing recognition, but because sixty-plus years of doing things right tends to generate its own quiet reputation.
The desserts alone would justify the reservation. But the full experience — from the warm welcome at the door to the last spoonful of crème brûlée — makes Tartan one of the most complete and genuinely satisfying dining destinations between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. It’s a restaurant that has outlasted trends, ownership changes, and decades of shifting tastes by doing something that never goes out of style: treating every guest like they matter, and every plate like it represents the whole restaurant.
Next time you’re in Redlands — or next time you need a reason to make the drive — let Tartan close out the evening on its own terms. Order something sweet. Take your time. Let the meal end the way it deserves to.
Tartan of Redlands welcomes guests for dinner throughout the week, with patio and indoor seating available. Reservations are recommended on weekend evenings, particularly when the prime rib and dessert menus are running at full strength.
