When Wildair opened in 2015, it was the casual overflow restaurant for the more serious tasting menu spot, Contra. But even then, it felt like the main event—mostly because the restaurant catered to the way people want to eat most frequently: casually, with a friend or two, over some great wine and excellent food to share. Cut to 10 years later and Contra is now the more casual sibling—reborn as a cocktail bar with really good snacks. The group also has a bar and restaurant in a hotel in Nomad, their own hotel upstate, and plans to spin off Wildair’s popular Saturday donut special into a whole separate thing. But even with all the offshoots, and in a city now saturated with wine bars, Wildair still stands out. The restaurant might be even better now, in an effortlessly cool way. You can walk in almost any evening they’re open and you’ll be led to a table or the bar, to the soundtrack of jazzy French funk. A server recommends a new bottle—something just flown in from Austria—that they can’t wait for you to try. It’s the kind of place that encourages tasting lots of by-the-glass options before committing to your juice, and where someone might slip you a heavy pour even if you only ordered half a glass. There are trendier wine bars out there, but the people-watching at Wildair still goes strong. The restaurant is crammed with folks in loose beanies and well-fitted crewnecks, chatting while they crush plate after plate of things like Atlantic bonito with soft purple olives, and dunk zingy sourdough into olive oil—their phones mysteriously, blissfully, out of sight. Though the menu changes, the one dish that’s always non-negotiable is the beef tartare. We’d happily come back to try each seasonal variation, like one we tried in winter, with walnut pesto, ume, and potato crisps. And most of the menu tops out at around $35—though that wagyu strip steak is worth it if you want to splurge, with its divine, thrice-fried potatoes.