‘SOLD OUT’: Closed to ‘regroup’ after 3 days, this new Boise restaurant just reopened

Here are a few potential ways to make Treasure Valley residents excited about a new restaurant.

1) Casually mention In-N-Out Burger.

2) Claim to possess the original, top-secret Torch Lounge finger steak recipe.

3) Or, if you’re opening on the Boise Bench? Keep your head down. Flip burgers.

Be like Wyld Child.

Quietly unveiled to the public last Thursday, Wyld Child’s debut was the antithesis of a grand opening. “We purposely didn’t tell anybody,” co-owner David Rex explains. “We just unlocked the door.”

Roughly 72 hours later?

“WE ARE SOLD OUT,” Wyld Child declared on Instagram, adding that it was closing for two days to “regroup.”

“We sold out of chicken,” Rex says in a phone interview. “We ran through all the buns that we had. We’re really trying to pay attention to the effect that kind of business level has on our people, too. A restaurant opening, it’s already a lot of intense work.

“The crowd was significant.”

Tight menu

As of Tuesday, Wyld Child was back for the attack. The seating area outside the restaurant teemed with customers at lunch hour. Offering a tight, one-page menu of burgers, sandwiches and salads, Wyld Child is the final tenant in a growing food-and-drink destination at 13 S. Latah St. Ice cream haven The STIL and Push & Pour coffee shop are the other two attractions. The recently built complex replaced a torn-down car wash.

Rex and his wife, Lizzy, also own The Wylder pizzeria in downtown Boise and Certified Kitchen + Bakery in Hyde Park. Wyld Child is approachable and family-friendly — the type of place they’d want in their own ’hood, David Rex says.

A Griddle Burger is $6.99 with horseradish sauce, sweet onions, American cheese and pickles. Grab a Falafel Burger (tomato, red onion, cucumber, sprouts, herb tzatziki sauce) for $10.99. Or do the Peruvian-spiced Wild Style Chicken Sandwich ($11.99) with aji verde, shaved cabbage and escabeche slaw.

“It’s fast-casual,” Rex says. “Griddle burgers, chicken sandwiches. There’s some salads. There’s one healthy bowl. ... So if you want to eat there multiple times a week, you don’t have to eat a cheeseburger every day.”

Wyld Child also offers a variety of draft beer ($6.25), craft canned beer ($5-$8), wine by the glass ($8-$10) and canned cocktails ($8).

At 2,000 square feet, Wyld Child is relatively small. “With indoors and our dedicated little patio, there’s like 65 seats,” Rex says. But sharing an outdoor environment with The STIL and Push & Pour makes Wyld Child attractive to families with young children. The Rexes have three of their own.

‘Cool’ entertainment complex

“The development’s really cool,” Rex says. “There’s a ton of space for little kids to run around. ... And so, like, for me, this would be perfect. Because I could go up there, order stuff, kids could run around and play games and eat. And you can grab ice cream and coffee and get out of there. You’re never held hostage. You can come and go as you please. I think it’s cool.”

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 am. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. But those might change, Rex says, depending on how the neighborhood responds. Eventually, the restaurant should be open seven days per week, he adds. Online ordering through wyldchildboise.com is another future hope.

But for now? Keeping chicken stocked and buns on hand might be the most important goals.

As experienced restaurateurs, the Rexes had assumed they would close for a couple of days after the initial three-day launch. But actually running out of food because of a flood of hungry locals?

“That neighborhood’s huge there,” David Rex says. “We did not post anything. Other people posted, ‘Hey, these guys are open.’ But we never said a word.”