Wildcard Bar is on the second floor of a townhouse on East 53rd Street in Midtown East, accessed through a discreet entrance and a dim staircase that announces the room before you get to it. The interior channels Meiji Restoration-era Japan: four-season visual cues in the design, low lighting, small-batch spirits on the shelves. Japanese whiskey and sake are the focus. A DJ plays Japanese vinyl on select nights.

The bar keeps a low profile from the street, which is most of the point. At the top of those stairs you're in a room that has made deliberate choices about what it wants to be and stuck with them.

Reservations are the standard approach given the limited seating.