Dining Review: Living The Wild Gluten-Free Life

Ok, full disclosure: I don’t follow a gluten-free diet and certainly don’t understand all the intricacies necessary to do so. Having said that, I’m lucky to have friends who do. The Stoop worked on a collaborative project last year to gather a local list together, which now needs some updating with the opening of Wild, a gluten-free restaurant with a focus on pizza.

The Park Slope franchise, which opened at 148 5th Avenue (at Douglass Street) in July, is the third Wild in the city. The West Village location is at 535 Hudson Street, and the other Brooklyn spot calls Williamsburg home (340 Bedford Avenue).

Miki Agrawal founded the first Wild restaurant in 2005. She’s a former investment banker who has been an entrepreneur for a variety of ideas and products. Most recently, she started Thinx Underwear, which caused quite a stir with their subway advertisements. Their ads stayed though, after they went under review and were subsequently accepted by the MTA.

But Agrawal isn’t running the Park Slope Wild. Marina Charny, who previously worked in literary PR, is at the helm of this new spot. According to The Editoriailist, “she reached out blindly to Miki about the idea of starting a franchise of Wild, and much to her surprise, Miki accepted.”

Wild’s gluten-free menu replaced long-time neighbor Los Pollitos II, which had been serving its well-known rotisserie chicken for 16 years. They closed on April 24.

Gluten-free items are certainly not news anymore, but a full gluten-free restaurant made us very curious. Think about the recommendations that could be made to those visiting the area, not to mention our out-of-town gluten-free guests who would benefit greatly from a place like this?

Now, our new culinary neighbor serves a full menu (no beer or wine at the moment), which includes gluten-free chicken milanese, bruschetta, salads, butternut squash ravioli, and some impressive desserts. Coconut brownies? Yes, please.

But the feature is pizza.
And this is New York.
And this is Brooklyn.
Pizza is personal.

The team has done a nice job with the space. The restaurant is light and airy — particularly refreshing on a Fall day when the front windows are wide open.

Last weekend, I had popped by to check in about their hours. A family of five was sitting comfortably at one of the larger tables. Brunch, which begins at 10am on the weekends, is a good time to bring the kids.

The current menu lists 11 pizza offerings, all of which have a gluten-free vegan crust. Options include the Wild White (mozzarella, ricotta, truffle oil, cracked black pepper, chives), the Skinny Bitch (tomato sauce, grilled zucchini, eggplant, cherry tomato, and pesto), BBQ Chicken Delight (bbq chicken, red onion, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce), Pear Gorgonzola (pear puree, fresh pear, fresh rosemary, fresh mozzarella with raspberry), and many others.

Almost all of the pies are $14 for a personal and $27 for a share. Keep in mind — and I was scratching my head about this a bit — that the pies all come in one size. So a “share” is an order of two personal pies.

I ordered the Caprino pizza, which comes with eggplant, roasted pepper, goat cheese, mozzarella, tomato sauce, topped with fresh arugula.

A lot of fresh arugula.

I found myself pulling the arugula off to the side so I could enjoy the chunky veggies and cheese underneath which were a bit drowned out by the top layer. It’s easy enough to do so.

The goat cheese/mozzarella combo works very well, and the crust has this tricky too describe “soft crunchiness.”

It’s a texture that is admittedly new to me — but I can see myself getting behind it.

But as I wrote earlier, “pizza is personal.” And this restaurant, just feels a bit too impersonal for my taste.

The problem has nothing to do with the décor, lighting, or seating arrangements. And if I had ordered pizza delivery, I’m pretty sure I would have been satisfied.

But the service simply felt cold. Warmth and pizza have to go together. Even if that’s the gruff, tough-love pizza guy who’s been dishing out slices with lightening fast speed. That wink or “attaboy” is part of the equation.

When I stopped in on Sunday, the server took some time to approach me to answer my questions. Well, a lot of time. The place didn’t look slammed. I asked a few questions about the hours and brunch versus regular menu and he seemed to be doing me a favor by answering them.

I came in for lunch a few days later, having brushed the server’s attitude off as a bad mood or belly-ache. But I was a bit stunned by the fact that I was the only person at a table and that the server took about 10 minutes to come over. The server was perfectly nice this time around, but I had trouble getting her attention because she spent quite a bit of time on her phone talking or texting.

Look, the dishes you’ll be served at Wild are aesthetically pleasing. And it’s a good thing to have a gluten-free restaurant in the neighborhood. My hope is that there will be a reconsideration of service. And, yes, it’s completely possible that I ran into some bad luck.

My hope is that this place will warm up for the customers. Gluten-free for not, that ingredient is simply a must when eating a slice. Anytime. Anywhere.

The Dining Rundown: Wild
Where:148 5th Avenue at Douglass Street
Hours: Mondays-Fridays, 12pm-10pm. Saturdays, 10am-11pm; Sundays, 10am-10pm
Phone: 347-987-4525
Kid Friendly? High chairs available, and there’s a good amount of room if it’s not too crowded.