FOR MOTHER Wolf, Evan Funke went Hollywood in every sense. His loud, posh, 200-seat spectacle in a 1930s-era Art Deco building rages nightly with a Negroni clutching who’s-who crowd. Funke, an L.A. native who learned from Wolfgang Puck at Spago and whose father is an Academy Awardwinning special effects photographer, has an insider’s instinct for coddling the Tinseltown elite. Angeleno restaurant obsessives also know he’s a perfectionist in the kitchen. The challenge he’s given himself with Mother Wolf is a rich one: Can he manage the vortex of power and glamour he’s created while maintaining the culinary ambitions of his Rome-inspired menu?

I find rewarding answers in his fried squash blossoms; the supplì al telefono stretchy with buffalo mozzarella; a pizza covered with prosciutto and artichokes; and a correct, barnyard-y spaghettone alla gricia, the unjust underdog of the Roman pasta repertoire. A restaurant of such glamorous scale needs a strong third act, and Funke wisely hired Shannon Swindle, one of L.A.’s most gifted pastry pros. Among other seasonal desserts, order the maritozzo, a fluffy sweet bun filled with cream in a shape that resembles Pac-Man with his mouth full, hiding a surprise of ripe, macerated strawberries that lightens the whole affair.

• 1545 Wilcox Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 410-6060, motherwolfla.com

Get your greens with Mother Wolf’s bucatini con cicoria.