It’s the Casbah of sushi. Chef Davin Waite quietly started his couple-seats concept behind a wall in an existing restaurant in South Oceanside. “It was between a dish pit and a liquor cabinet,” he says. One day, they tore down the wall and there was his and his brother’s tiny dream—a use-every-part-because-a-fish-died-for-this sushi spot.
They named it Wrench & Rodent.
Wrench is absolutely one of the best sushi restaurants in the county. Local fishers dock their boats, load catch into pickup trucks, and drive to the Waites’ back door. The Waite brothers (and now Davin’s son) turn it into nigiri, sashimi, and dishes like the seared black pepper albacore with collard greens.
As for the name—which split the family a bit (“my brother and dad weren’t super into the idea, which only made me want to do it more”). It has an echo of punk-band names Waite grew up with. It’s also reminiscent of the names of pubs in the UK, where the Waite brothers spent chunks of their childhoods. And, finally, it acts as a kind of bat signal to find the right kind of people.
“If you’re weirded out by a word, then you might be weirded out by some of the stuff on the plate,” says Waite. “So it’s kind of a warning and a beacon, depending on who you are and what you like.”
Don’t get weirded. It’s fantastic in here.
