Milanese modernism meets Eastside cool at this LA pizza parlour

Who says no one eats carbs in Los Angeles? Pizza pop-ups and openings have been plentiful around town and the new restaurant Wildcrust warrants the lines around the block on the border of Highland Park and Eagle Rock. The former social space in Japanese-American chef Miles Okabayashi’s mother’s backyard in Mar Vista during the pandemic is now a full brick-and-mortar indoor-outdoor scene, yet it is still a family affair, with brother Sam and sister-in-law Jean Okabayashi as business partners.

The mood: Milanese modernism meets Eastside cool

Chef Okabayashi collaborated with Jared Frank Studio (Tenants of the Trees nightclub) to develop an original vision for what a West-Coast pizza parlour could be and argues that ‘it’s LA, not New York’ that leans into Italy’s enthusiastic relationship to modern life and food. Frank studied chef Miles’ pies and found them ‘sexy and confident with a Jackson Pollock dynamism’, which set the tone for his motif. In a refreshing twist, he took inspiration from the long history of Milanese modernism, mainly from Piero Portaluppi’s deco and Aldo Rossi’s PoMo.

As such, the space exudes a primary colour palette and shapes – from the saucer pendants to the Ziggurat sconces, and cabinets, featuring burnt-crust charcoal, red-sauce burgundy, basil-mint green and pizza-pan aluminium. The custom lighting was produced by SPJ, except for the hanging red pendants, which were designed by Ménard Dworkind with Lambert & Fils, to cast a glow on Wim Rietveld’s ‘Pyramid’ communal tables, benches, and chairs.

The food: elevated fire-cooked pizza

During the lockdown years, Okabayashi – whose background includes République in LA and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Perry Street in New York – rethought the high-status cuisine he cooked on the East Coast and debated whether pizza deserved a serious chef’s attention. The result is light and airy 48-hour, fermented-sourdough Neapolitan-style pies, which are the main event amid a full menu of fire-cooked specialities, complemented by a natural wine list.

Yes, you can order a simple Margherita pie, but there are more creative options, such as the salame piccante with fermented chilli honey or braised lamb tzatziki with feta.

Wildcrust is located at 4705 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042, United States; wildcrustla.com