Omakase Restaurant Sushi by Scratch Opens a New Dessert Shop in East Austin

California-born omakase restaurant with multiple locations across the country, Sushi by Scratch, is opening a new dessert shop this year. Wolf and Wheat will be found in East Austin at 1009 East Sixth Street starting on Thursday, October 26.

Wolf and Wheat will be led by Sushi by Scratch co-owner Margarita Kallas-Lee, who is also a noted pastry chef. On deck will be breads, baked goods, desserts, and accompaniments available for takeout services.

Specifically, there will be Sushi by Scratch’s signature dessert, the makrut ice cream bon bons; sourdough bread; and cultured butter. Other items on the changing menu will include gluten-free buckwheat brownies; oolong tiramisu; Mexican marigold ice cream sandwiches with brown butter brioche cookies and brioche bread crumbs; raspberry tres leches cakes; and a variety of ice creams by the pint or cup, with flavors like palo santo dulce de leche, makrut matcha, and burnt vanilla with brownies.

The Wolf and Wheat space will also serve as the bakery commissary kitchen for the company’s restaurants, producing desserts and the such. For these purposes, Kallas-Lee relocated most of her pastry team to Austin (the sous chef is staying in Los Angeles to make bread and desserts for the company’s restaurant Pasta|Bar there). While there will be no dine-in areas, people will be able to view the bakers working on items.

The dessert shop’s name takes its cues from the now-Austin-based Kallas-Lee’s and her husband, Sushi by Scratch co-owner, and chef Phillip Frankland Lee’s long-ago fine-dining food delivery service Wolf Cuisine in Los Angeles.

Chad Wadsworth

Kallas-Lee and Lee started their culinary carers in California, opening their first restaurant Scratch Kitchen in Beverly Hills in 2013, which relocated into Encino in 2015. They opened omakase spot Sushi|Bar in Los Angeles in 2017, and expanded with an Austin pop-up in December 2020, which turned into a permanent restaurant in August 2021. During that time, they also opened the original Pasta|Bar in Los Angeles in June 2020, which earned a Michelin star the following year (and continues to hold onto that star).

Later in 2021, the couple left the Sushi|Bar brand and Austin location. They changed the names of their existing restaurants to Sushi by Scratch under their company Scratch Restaurant Group. They opened the Austin location of Pasta|Bar in March 2022 and omakase spot Sushi by Scratch in the Lost Pines Resort out in Cedar Creek both in March 2022. Since then, they’ve also expanded the omakase restaurant into Montreal, Miami, Seattle, and Chicago. Frankland Lee also teamed up with professional skateboarder Neen Williams and opened a casual burger stand within Rainey Street bar Idle Hands in October 2022, Not a Damn Chance Burger. They also had plans to open another omakase restaurant in the Hill Country called Shokunin, which they announced in 2022, but there are no further details or updates.

Wolf and Wheat’s the East Sixth address had previously been home to gelato shop and amari bar Gemelli Gelateria, which opened in 2015. It closed in the fall of 2022 because owner Andrew Sabola told Eater that the business wasn’t high enough to help with pandemic-related expenses and sales losses.

Wolf and Wheat’s hours are from 2 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Chad Wadsworth

Update, October 26: This article, originally published on August 22, has been updated to include Wolf and Wheat’s opening date and more details.