Wildair

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