Meet Tatiana Ettensberger of Wilde’s LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tatiana Ettensberger.

Hi Tatiana, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Natasha (co-owner and Executive Chef) and I (co-owner and Beverage Director) have known each other since we were two and one, respectively. We grew up with our families eating dinner together every Friday—we didn’t know all the way back then that we wanted to open a restaurant together, but the act of gathering around food has been deeply ingrained in us since a very young age. Natasha moved to NYC at 18 to work in kitchens, and I was slowly finding my own footing in restaurants in LA. When she moved back during the pandemic, we decided to start a supper club together, with two of our other friends. It was small, and hosted in her backyard, but it served as a really wonderful creative outlet and sort of ‘proof of concept’ for us. The more we did it, the more we realized we wanted to do it ‘for real’.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh gosh no. I mean the most difficult and simultaneously rewarding thing about restaurants is that every day is different. Just when you think you’ve caught your stride, something comes out of left field and you have to learn something new all over again. That being said, we’re really lucky to have a truly, truly incredible team working with us, and so while the road can be bumpy, it’s more than manageable because of the spirit of our team.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Wilde’s LA?
Wilde’s is a neighborhood restaurant in Los Feliz, specializing in thoughtful, rustic, seasonal cooking and natural wine. Our cafe is open Thursday-Sunday from 8am-1pm, with a dine-in menu including porridge and egg soldiers, and a housemade pastry program available for takeaway. Our restaurant is open for dinner Wednesday-Saturday from 530pm-10pm, specializing in seasonal, rustic cuisine and natural wine.

Natasha was born in England, and you can find moments of British nostalgia sprinkled throughout the menu. But first and foremost, the cooking at Wilde’s is based on finding the beauty in simplicity and rusticity, with a real focus on seasonality and the very best ingredients available at any given time.

Our pastry program is helmed by our CDC Sarah Durning, whose love of butchery & pastry have come together to create something we believe to be pretty one-of-a-kind. She breaks down a whole hog from Peads & Barnett each week (an unbelievably impressive feat to manage, especially with her hands in all other parts of the menu too) and uses it throughout our menu, at both day & night: sausage rolls, bangers, crackling, and so much more.

Our wine list aligns itself with the farmer-first mentality of the food menu. The wine list is deeply personal, with an emphasis on winemakers who have touched the Wilde’s project in some way, whether through an actual personal connection, or through inspiration and reverence.

Above all else, all we want is to be a proper neighborhood restaurant, with a staff and guests that feel like family, and a menu we’re proud of.

What makes you happy?
When people seem to really understand what we’re doing, it means a great deal to us. Like, when someone who doesn’t know anything about us comes in and gets really inspired by the whole hog program, or notices that the bathroom has a different playlist than the dining room, or comments on the meaningful (to us) assortment of Natasha’s mom’s paintings in the bathroom… we spend so much time thinking about things with no idea if anyone notices, and so when they do, I feel really happy and proud of our team.

Contact Info:

• Website: wildesla.com
• Instagram: @wildes.la

Image Credits
Kort Havens & Em Ferretti