Wildair
Dined 12/9/2022
I’m not ashamed to admit that I follow a bunch of food influencers on Instagram, and I think I learned about Wildair through Instagram story osmosis. I had never consciously thought about it before, but I knew what it was when I walked past one day. “Oh - I think that place is supposed to be good.” “Cool,” my friend responded. At the time we weren’t working on Served, but that moment would become the anchor of our waiter / restaurant chain. Grant and I started this whole thing at Wildair because of that feeling I had in my gut. Because these influencers, while occasionally cringe, seem like they have good taste.
Turns out, I was right. Wildair is a fantastic restaurant. There are a lot of reasons why it’s fantastic, but the number one for me is how approachable they make world-class food. Contra, the sister restaurant next door, is a far more buttoned-up, Michelin star, white chef coat type of place. Wildair is like fuck it, walk in, drink some wine, enjoy yourself. Our waitress, Grace, had a really similar personality to Wildair itself.
What Grant and I do at restaurants is pretty weird. We’re basically interviewing our server during the fleeting moments that they’re at our table. They’re running around doing their job, and we’re like “So … what are your favorite restaurants.” It’s honestly pretty funny - and can definitely get awkward when the waiter would rather we just shut up. Imagine that weirdness, and then add the nerves of having to do it for the first time. Wildair could have been a disaster that stopped Served in its tracks, but Grace immediately disarmed us. She was warm, very knowledgeable, and outgoing enough that we didn’t feel like we were being annoying. We asked where the menu draws inspiration. Grace gave us a nuanced story about how chefs Jeremiah and Fabian worked together at Noma. We asked for her favorite dishes on the menu. Grace took out her pen and marked up the menu, while walking us through each dish. We asked for a few of her favorite restaurants. Grace gave us 15. She went above and beyond to make sure that we were taken care of - and that our questions were answered.
You can read the full story on Wildair below, and stay tuned for next week’s on Chambers in Tribeca.
Grace - if you’re reading this, thank you! Your enthusiasm and hospitality gave us confidence that this could work. Wherever Served goes is because of you. We wish you all the best, and our offer to take you to one of those 15 restaurants still stands 🙂.
Served,
The Supper Club
Want to go to Wildair on Saturday February 25th @ 7:30pm?
We went to Wildair for our first ever Served dinner, and saying that we started things off with a bang would be an understatement. The restaurant itself is small - with around four larger tables in the center of the room flanked by a counter that wraps around the entire outer wall. Big (4+) parties should definitely try to book a reservation in advance. Couples and triples should be able to walk in and find seating somewhere along the counter.
Grace, our awesome waitress, helped us navigate the menu and get to know how Wildair works. The menu is tight - full of small plates and one large format 24 ounce American wagyu strip. Everything is super shareable and can be mixed and matched with their extensive wine list. According to Grace, things at Wildair “come out as they are listed on the menu. There are no courses here, and we’re known for our desserts.” You’re supposed to get ~2 plates per person, but hungrier groups (like we were) should stretch to 2 and a half. Head chefs Jeremiah Stone and Fabian Von Hauske worked together at Noma before making their way to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. There are a lot of culinary influences at play here - Mexican, Taiwanese, and some “real Noma shit. Fermentation, koji, all that stuff.” The menu changes seasonally, but expect to see a seafood focus in the small plates.
Grace recommended the below, and we ordered the stuff in bold:
Savory
Topneck Clams - almond milk, XO
Little Gem Salad
Beef Tartare - umeboshi, walnut pesto, potato crisp
Bigeye Tuna - sweet peppers, lardo, pimenton
Pissaladieclair (2) - cantabrian anchovies, olive, Sternenberger
Pommes Darphin with California Uni - lacy potato cake, jalapeno-shallot relish
Jerk Prawn Skewers (2)
Dessert
Sundae
Key Lime Paris Brest - lime curd, vanilla diplomat meringue, Graham club
Everything that hit the table was fantastic in its own way. Our personal favorites were the eclairs and the pommes darphin with uni. Grant thought he didn’t like olives until he got to know his eclair. They were very big flavor, and very complex, but genuinely fun to eat. The pommes darphin was like a big, boujee potato latke topped with the freshest uni imaginable. Please don’t sleep on the tartare or the clams. The tartare had good acid with the plums that paired really well with the beef and the brown buttery chips it came with. Clams with XO and almond milk don’t initially sound like a match made in heaven, but wow. It all makes sense in your mouth. Cold, refreshing, briny, and intensely umami. They’re a perfect way to prepare your palate for the rest of the meal.
For dessert we went with the Paris Brest. It was like a choux pastry dessert sandwich filled with super light vanilla meringue and a punchy key lime curd.
We’ve got photos and additional details for each dish below, but to conclude - you should get your ass to Wildair and have a great meal in a great atmosphere.
Topneck Clams - almond milk, XO
Top neck clams are a young quahog clam, and these ones come chilled, open-face, and ready to eat. The seafood itself is top shelf, but the toppings really take this dish to the next level. Cooling almond milk mellows out the intensely savory XO sauce. The dried seafood in the XO accentuates the brininess of the clams. Whatever green garnish was on the clams rounded out the bite with some refreshing herbaceousness. It all worked so well together despite how it may read on the menu. Order these for the table to get dinner started on the right foot.
Beef Tartare - umeboshi, walnut pesto, potato crisp
It’s hard to see it underneath the tiled roof of potato crisps, but there’s a serious beef tartare hiding on that plate. The walnut pesto brought the fat, and the umeboshi plums brought the acid. The potato crisps had a nutty, brown butter flavor that brought another dimension to an already stellar dish. The tartare is a great way to get some red meat in without splurging for the steak.
Bigeye Tuna - sweet peppers, lardo, pimenton
This dish was a revelation for me because it’s a raw tuna dish that’s served warm. The tuna was thick and shingled with melty, porky lardons. The sweet peppers and pimenton cut through the meaty saltiness, and made this dish fun to keep eating. This one went super well with whatever cold, natural red Grace recommended.
Pissaladieclair (2) - cantabrian anchovies, olive, Sternenberger
The eclairs were definitely the wildcard of the night. I still have no idea how to pronounce “pissaladieclair,” and Grant came out of the gate hot with a self-proclaimed dislike for black olives. Regardless, we went with the eclairs, and are very happy that we did. The first thing you taste from the eclair is the choux pastry. It’s buttery, flaky, slightly sweet. Then, the flavor profile shifts hard and punches you in the face with, deep, salty, and funky from the black olives, the anchovies, and the Sternenberger cheese. The last thing you taste before washing it down with some wine is the choux coming back to round things out. These aren’t for the faint of heart, but we recommend giving them a chance.
Pommes Darphin with California Uni - lacy potato cake, jalapeno-shallot relish
I grew up eating potato latkes and Waffle House hashbrowns, and this is the best version of both. As a lover of crispy, salty potatoes, I would have been satisfied by the Pommes Darphin alone. That said, the sweet, honeydew-esque uni and the sour / spicy jalapeno relish elevated this dish from side dish to main event. Make sure (at least) one of these makes its way to your table.
Key Lime Paris Brest - lime curd, vanilla diplomat meringue, Graham club
Last but certainly not least we had to have a dessert. We were initially leaning towards the baked custard, but apparently the granita has a tendency to overwhelm that dish. Grace advised us to steer towards the sundae or the Paris Brest instead. We went with the pastry because it seemed more exciting than ice cream, and what came out was a real show stopper. The best way I can describe it was like a dessert hoagie. It was choux pastry around sour lime curd and airy vanilla meringue. We took this down and left feeling happy and light on our feet.
Give me a bite! Try and stop me!!