Four days a week the line for Wilde\u2019s stretches down the block, even in the rain. One of the city\u2019s buzziest new restaurants sees guests queueing for lightly battered sea bass fried to a shattering crisp, or the pucks of tender duck rillettes, or the rich slices of Welsh rarebit \u2014 a rarity in Los Angeles. The modern-British menu at Wilde\u2019s is making waves far beyond Los Feliz, and so is the line to get in.<\/p>\n
Owners Natasha Price and Tatiana Ettensberger envisioned Wilde\u2019s as a kind of walk-in restaurant built for the neighborhood. They\u2019d never imagined the immediate clamor for its 10 tables, nor the lines that begin forming before they open the doors each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe response and turnout that we\u2019ve gotten has been so deeply flattering and incredible,\u201d said Ettensberger, a former manager and wine buyer at Caf\u00e9 Triste, \u201cand also painful in that there\u2019s only so many people we can seat.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The pastry case \u2014 and the line outside \u2014 during daytime service at Wilde\u2019s in Los Feliz.<\/p>\n
(Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
About 80% of their seating is reserved for walk-ins, with the 20% of reservations spread throughout the night. Guests put their names down and receive a text when the table is ready, usually one and a half to two hours later. If there are seats available at the small counter along the restaurant\u2019s front window, one can sit and order wine and small plates until the table is available.<\/p>\n
By 9 p.m., Ettensberger said, there\u2019s almost always space for walk-ins in the dining room. Her best advice is to line up early or arrive late, or put your name down expecting a wait, and then stop in for a drink at one of the neighborhood\u2019s multiple other mom-and-pop bars and restaurants until that text notification.<\/p>\n
During daytime service the white tablecloths disappear, turnover time is quicker, guests order at the counter and little glass pedestals of sausage rolls, persimmon tea cakes, scones and quiche line the shelves near the register.<\/p>\n
Price and Ettensberger view British cuisine as the throughline of their menu, but Wilde\u2019s also incorporates the light touch and seasonality of California cuisine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of interesting flavors that run through British cuisine,\u201d said Price. \u201cAt the same time a lot of it, to me, is just rustic and using local ingredients, and we also have that here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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House-made coppa di testa with pickled golden beets and whipped lardo at Wilde\u2019s.<\/p>\n
(Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Their whole-hog program means cracklings in the kohlrabi salad, house-made coppa di testa served with garlicky whipped lardo, and freshly ground bangers \u2014 or sausages \u2014 atop mashed potatoes with brown-sauce mostarda. That program is inspired and led by chef de cuisine Sarah Durning, formerly pastry chef of Dunsmoor and a butcher at Gwen.<\/p>\n
British cuisine, they agreed, gets a bad \u2014 and false \u2014 rap for blandness. They try to pepper in those \u201csurprises,\u201d like nods to curry or HP sauce, in hidden methods to form what Price calls \u201cthis little question mark that happens,\u201d keeping diners intrigued or on their toes.<\/p>\n
Their partnership is a long one. Price and Ettensberger met at the ages of 1 and 2; their families would spend every Friday night together, usually dining through L.A.\u2019s independent restaurants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all we knew,\u201d said Ettensberger. \u201cThat\u2019s how you socialize, that\u2019s how you spend your weekends: going to restaurants and enjoying it with the people that you love.\u201d<\/p>\n
That shared foundation is what led to opening a restaurant together, and the restaurant is named for Price\u2019s niece: the first child in a new generation from either of their families, who all grew up around dinner tables together.<\/p>\n
Ettensberger and Price separately moved to the Northeast in early adulthood, with Price cooking at Mina\u2019s NYC in MoMA PS1. When they\u2019d both moved back to L.A. they launched a popular backyard ticketed dinner series called Seconds \u2014 and began planning their full restaurant.<\/p>\n
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A scone with jam and clotted cream, right, with a bacon bap during Wilde\u2019s daytime service.<\/p>\n
(Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Price was born in England and visited family there throughout her life, but when she began her culinary career, British food was never a focus. It wasn\u2019t until they began mapping out Wilde\u2019s that her mind kept circling to what felt most like home: savory pies, hearty fare and \u201csimple food on a plate,\u201d all of which synched with Ettensberger\u2019s wine tendencies toward rustic pairings. Her spotlighting of independent vintners, she said, echoes Price\u2019s local-farm mentality.<\/p>\n
Desserts are helmed by Durning, and are what Price calls \u201crustic but really intentional,\u201d like a fluffy wedge of sticky toffee pudding with a just-br\u00fbl\u00e9ed aged vanilla jaggery crust.<\/p>\n
That menu is what\u2019s drawing guests to Wilde\u2019s for hours-long waits. But the team hopes it mellows into a neighborhood stalwart once the opening rush dies down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s always going to be this way,\u201d Ettensberger said. \u201cObviously it can\u2019t. If we\u2019re lucky enough where people still really want to eat here that often, maybe we\u2019ll have to switch in some way to reservations. But it is definitely something we\u2019re experimenting with and trying to figure out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilde\u2019s is open Wednesday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
1850 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 284-8178, wildesla.com<\/a> <\/p>\n Grilled oysters at Clark\u2019s Oyster Bar in Malibu.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Clark\u2019s Oyster Bar<\/p>\n First Clark\u2019s Oyster Bar touched down in Montecito and the Bay Area. Now the popular seafood restaurant founded in Austin is shucking oysters<\/a>, slicing crudo and ladling thick New England clam chowder in Malibu.<\/p>\n The daily specials board at Clark\u2019s Oyster Bar in Malibu.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Clark\u2019s restaurant group, MML Hospitality, operates more than 20 restaurants across Texas, California and Colorado, but Clark\u2019s is the company\u2019s seafood gem, serving oak-grilled Spanish octopus, lobster rolls with drawn butter, rockfish with grits, linguine with clams, crab omelets, cioppino and more. Its Malibu location also spotlights Pacific Coast seafood, along with its wine list that also draws from the Central Coast. Non-seafood options include steak, a burger draped in Gruy\u00e8re and salads.<\/p>\n The Malibu location sits along an edge of the new Cross Creek Ranch development project and boasts a raw bar, 175 seats, an aquarium, a fireplace and a patio. Clark\u2019s Oyster Bar is open in Malibu Sunday to Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n 23465 Civic Center Way, Suite 210, Malibu, (310) 879-8508, clarksoysterbar.com<\/a> <\/p>\n The intimate bar area of Echo Park amaro bar the Ramona Room.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The Ramona Room<\/p>\n Echo Park\u2019s Elf Cafe<\/a> closed in the spring after nearly 20 years in business, but its owners recently brought the space back to life with Ramona Room.<\/p>\n A nopales taco with Dune hummus and pickled jalape\u00f1os at Ramona Room.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The new amaro bar\u2019s team also owns Middle Eastern restaurant Dune and European cafe Bar Sinizki, and their latest operation features a few nods to both. Bar Sinizki\u2019s beverage director, Shawn Shepherd, also heads the program at Ramona Room, where he\u2019s built a menu around California and Italian amari, plus European ports and sherries. They can be ordered a la carte or as highballs or house cocktails.<\/p>\n Head chef Marc Lopez \u2014 formerly of Little Dom\u2019s, Budonoki and M\u00edrate \u2014 is cooking up a globetrotting menu of bar bites such as house-smoked mussels escabeche, a Cubano sandwich, and a range of tacos on fresh tortillas, including a nopales variety that comes smeared with Dune\u2019s hummus. Ramona Room is open daily from 5 to 11 p.m.<\/p>\n 2135 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, instagram.com\/theramonaroom<\/a> <\/p>\n A spread of matcha drinks and modern Japanese pastries at Studio City\u2019s Cafe Matcha.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Cafe Matcha<\/p>\n A diner-inspired riff on matcha is now open in Studio City, offering pastries, milkshakes, whimsical drinks<\/a> and a selection of imported tea from a familiar coffee brand.<\/p>\n Staff prepare freshly whisked matcha drinks at Cafe Matcha.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Cafe Matcha is a new project from prolific chain Alfred Coffee, and from a corner of the Laurel Promenade mall in Studio City it\u2019s serving waffles under matcha milk jam, ham curry buns, and hojicha apple galettes alongside cream-top matcha lattes, hand-whisked rare matchas and more.<\/p>\n It builds on the tea focus of Alfred Tea Room, the coffee chain\u2019s tea-based offshoot that ran from 2017 to 2023. But at Cafe Matcha it\u2019s entirely about powdered green tea, which the shop sources from multiple provinces across Japan. Matcha apparati, such as whisks, shakers and tumblers, are also for sale. The food menu, created by Konbi vet Kiyoshi Tsukamoto, fuses traditional Japanese ingredients with Americana stalwarts, resulting in items like miso cinnamon buns under a shio koji vanilla glaze. Cafe Matcha is open Tuesday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n 12070 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, cafe-matcha.com<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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