A Fetching, Sun-Drenched Pizzeria With Wood-Fired Sourdough Pies Is Opening Soon in Highland Park

Mona Holmes
is a press reporter for Eater Los Angeles and a routine factor to KCRW radio. She has covered dining establishments, eating, and food culture considering that 2016. In 2022, the James Beard Structure chose her for a Jonathan Gold Resident Voice Award.

Highland Park’s brand-new sourdough pizzeria Wildcrust is opening up on Saturday, October 19. The pandemic-era pop-up-turned-permanent dining establishment comes from chef Miles Okabayashi and his organization partners, bro Sam and sister-in-law Jean Okabayashi.

While Wildcrust’s small edge area shows up small at first glance, it seats 28 diners throughout two outdoor patios and 40 more in the lengthy dining-room with booths, high-tops, and common tables. Interior developer Jared Frank thought up the dining room’s industrial walls with sage green touches, red accents, custom-made floor tiles and banquettes, contemporary sconces, and hanging lights that invoke a midcentury feeling. Lunch service will certainly introduce in the coming months.

Surrounding to Wildcrust’s pizza oven is a wood-fired grill to prep duck croquettes with a duck jus, which takes 3 days to prepare. The bone-in pork cut is encrusted with fennel seeds, coriander, Aleppo pepper, cumin, and crushed red chile flakes, while the Christmas lima beans are hearty with a marjoram clothing.

The Okabayashis hired Manzke and Bicyclette alum and sommelier Enoch Ahn to act as the general supervisor. Along with beer and purpose, Ahn curated a white wine list including Italian, German, Portuguese, and a minerally French chenin blanc from the Loire Valley.

The Los Angeles native cook worked at République prior to moving to New York from 2013 to 2020 to get experience at Michelin-starred Torishin and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Perry Road. Okabayashi returned to Los Angeles in 2020 and delivered prepared food for friends and family members during the height of the pandemic. While Wildcrust’s compact edge area appears little at initial glance, it seats 28 restaurants throughout 2 patio areas and 40 even more in the lengthy dining space with cubicles, high-tops, and common tables. Inside developer Jared Frank dreamed up the eating space’s commercial wall surfaces with sage environment-friendly touches, red accents, custom-made ceramic tiles and banquettes, contemporary sconces, and hanging lights that invoke a midcentury feeling.

The Los Angeles native cook functioned at République before moving to New York from 2013 to 2020 to get experience at Michelin-starred Torishin and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Perry Road. Okabayashi returned to Los Angeles in 2020 and provided prepared food for good friends and household during the height of the pandemic. Okabayashi consumed over the scientific research of sourdough, creating a 48-hour fermentation process.