Wilder

Wilder occupies the former Philadelphia Academy of Social Dance building at 2009 Sansom Street in Rittenhouse — three storeys, a hundred and fifty seats, a restaurant, bar and private event space that opened in March 2022. It was founded by the husband-and-wife team Brett Naylor and Nicole Barrick, who designed the eclectic interior themselves and brought in executive chef Bob Truitt, formerly of Corton, Buddakan and Morimoto.

The reason its non-alcoholic programme is one of the most developed in Philadelphia is straightforward: both owners are sober. Philadelphia Magazine made the same connection, noting that because Barrick and Naylor do not drink, they have put considerable effort into the N/A list. That fact changes the economics of the decision. For most restaurants a zero-proof menu is a market bet with an uncertain return; for owners who will be drinking from it every night they work, it is simply the house list.

What that produces in practice is the detail worth knowing: zero-proof cocktails appear on both the regular menu and the happy-hour menu, at around ten dollars. Happy hour is where non-drinkers are usually quietly excluded — the discounted list is almost always beer, wine and well drinks, so the person not drinking pays full price while everyone around them pays less. Extending the discount to the alcohol-free drinks is a small, unglamorous decision that almost nobody makes.

The named options include Doctor's Orders, One Last Question and Top Shelf Bubbles, the last of which points at the other thing non-drinkers routinely lose: something to raise at a toast. A three-storey venue that hosts private events and keeps a proper alcohol-free sparkling option is solving for weddings and birthdays, which is where the absence is felt most.

Open from half past eleven in the morning until ten at night, seven days.