Hello! I’m Wilder.

According to my mom, I’m a very talented writer.
You can see some of my stuff below.
Let me know if you wanna get tacos some time.

perhaps you’ve seen my work in such glamorous places as

a few of my greatest hits

The Best Restaurants in the San Fernando Valley

Thrillist

A big love letter to the food paradise I grew up in. I wish I could have included about 1,000 more restaurants, but them’s the berries.

Tips For Surviving Adult Summer Camp

The Washington Post

I am hopelessly in love with adult summer camps, so I tricked The Washington Post into letting me write about them.

Meet the Sisters Selling Indonesian Street Food out of a Glendale Driveway

L.A. Taco

I was the first to report on the pandemic-born Bungkus Bagus, an Indonesian street food pop-up sensation.

I Ate the World’s Best Kentucky Fried Chicken at the KFC Test Kitchen

Cheapism

You’ll see that bucket in your nightmares now.

Jonathan Gold Helped Me Fall in Love With My Own City

We Like L.A.

I couldn't say anything about J Gold that hadn't been said by the countless other food writers whose lives he changed, but I could say what he meant to me.

An American's Quest to Find Fourth Meal in Canada

High Times

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Green Onion Cake

web design portfolio

i make websites too, tell your friends

here’s what i’m eating

None of you creeps told me the Mexican food scene in Denver was so bonkers. I’m late as hell to the party on this one. What a weekend of stunners:

• Amuse-bouche

• A pozole to embarrass other pozole from @ladiabladenver. Outta this

Some recent jammers!

• All hail the queen @bethkellerhals, and the biscuits and gravy at @butterpunkavl

• Predictably great crudo from @deanboskovich at @potentialnewbf

• A spectacular god damn cheeseburger from @tall

Astral projected my body back to California in a blur of family and manual labor, but still managed to gobble up some goods. Sorry I didn’t tell anybody I was home, ain’t I a stinker, etc.

* + chopped raw onions and chilies

* Thigh shis

Instagram is a hell hole now, and I’m probably out of here (see ya on Bluesky?) but for now, here’s the best stuff I ate in 2024, in no particular order.

* Okay, one in particular order: I think this catfish & grits special from @goo

Cannot express enough how grateful I am to @drinkcazcanes for one of the most rewarding travel experiences I’ve ever had. Thanks for taking me across beautiful Jalisco, from the mountains and the cities, to the jungle and the desert. Thanks for

Had the finger-lickin’est time checking out the @kfc test kitchen, meeting the innovation team, and sneak-peaking some future menu goodies. Thanks for teaching me the Colonel’s first name (Harland!!) and how to fry his chicken, but most o

When you get people to fly from England, Mexico, Chicago, North Carolina, and the Bay Area just to m̶e̶e̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶o̶g̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶o̶r̶ hang out for your bachelor party, you’re probably pretty well-liked. HBP, @eedmond, this weekend gets 5/5 ropes.

I have been eating some wonderful things

Had a helluva time visiting the stunning @garrisonbros distillery and witnessing @garrisonbros_master_distiller’s Daredevil-esque sense of smell in action. Honored to have been included. Get your hands on a bottle of Balmorhea, asap.

listen to my really stupid podcast

Jesse & Wilder’s Guide to Life

I co-host a rubric-making show with Jesse McGrath, which critics have hailed as “a podcast.” Take a listen wherever you download yours.