Published in ‘The Collection, BY COMPASS’ Winter 2020
Ari & Micah Wilder—the dynamic restaurant duo that’s all in on Shaw
If you were to wander into Zeppelin for happy hour and manage to grab a seat at the bar, there’s a good shot you’d be served by one of the Wilder brothers—the prolific duo who took a chance on Shaw back in 2014 when restaurants there tended to fame out in a matter of months. Five years on, they have not one, but two successful restaurants under their purview. And although much has changed since then—both in their lives and for the community itself—Ari and Micah have always managed to stay true to who they are.
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“We don’t like to tell people what they should like or even try, for that matter. For us, it’s all about identifying the things our customers genuinely enjoy so we can make thoughtful recommendations from there.”
-Micah Wilder
As self-proclaimed “men of the bar,” the pair initially set out on the scene in 2010 as consultants for burgeoning restaurants, designing cocktail programs for the likes of Robert Weidemeyer and Jeff Black. Back then, they would handle everything from sourcing the products, to developing original recipes, training the staff, and doing quarterly revisits to ensure the brand standards they set in place were being upheld. But after a while, they realized that in order to have true creative control over a restaurant, they had no choice but to start one themselves.
Luckily for Ari and Micah, they were more than up to the challenge. From a young age, they were taught to be citizens of the world, thanks in no small part to their father, Anthony Wilder, a prominent architectural designer who’s made a lifelong habit of sparking passion in those around him. “Anthony was our best friend growing up,” Ari starts. “In those days, we were constantly surrounded by culture—from architecture and design, to art and classical music. It was a highly immersive atmosphere... the kind where studying happened at drafting tables instead of desks.”
As you can imagine, Ari and Micah’s propensity to innovate only intensified as they began to envision careers of their own. “When we first started making cocktails, we didn’t have recipes to follow,” Micah explains. “We couldn’t just Google something to figure out the right way to do it...so instead, we experimented ourselves to see what worked and what didn’t.” That rare ability to acknowledge the uncertainty of their pursuits—yet proceed in spite of it—has defined Ari and Micah’s journey from day one. But when they began planning to open their very first restaurant—all on their own dime—the stakes were even higher.
“Back when we opened Chaplin’s, people told us we were out of our minds,” Micah recalls. Not only had the space been home to a previously failed venture, but the idea itself seemed lofty and complex to an evolving neighborhood not yet familiar with the authenticity that is central to the brothers’ outlook. “We just went with our gut and took a chance,” Ari says simply. Today, it’s clear that chance paid off—Chaplin’s is one of DC’s most beloved spots for upscale ramen and inventive cocktails. Named after Charlie Chaplin, pioneer of the silent film era, the restaurant itself feels like traveling back in time into a black and white film. The menu draws inspiration from 1920’s Japan, while big posters throughout transport patrons to a classic old-world alleyway full of theatrical allure.
But beyond the Chaplin’s concept itself, there’s a genuine community-centric feel to the atmosphere here that’s hard to come by today. “We shape restaurants around the bar scene so we can really play up that neighborhood factor and encourage interaction,” Micah points out. “We also try to stay competitive with our price points and make sure there’s a unique twist to everything we’re doing.” While many restaurateurs rely on trends to make a splash, Ari and Micah instead choose to protect the brand they’ve worked so hard to build. Trends come and go, they say. “If you see something here that you’ve seen somewhere else, it’s not by design,” Ari affirms.
It is, however, by design that Ari and Micah wound up going into business together. Even when Ari was mastering economics at Maryland while Micah was off in San Francisco studying visual effects, their goal was always to reunite and take the industry by storm. And while it’s true that they each bring unique skills to the table—Ari often oversees the front of house operations while Micah churns out new concepts—it would be an oversimplification to limit either of them to those responsibilities alone. What they have is a cohesive partnership where everything they do is in service of the bigger picture, to the point where their personal and professional lives are inextricably linked. The dynamic between them feels almost impossibly relatable, effortlessly lighthearted and distinctly refined all at once. Leaning casually against a bar stool, Ari jokes that he can’t take his eyes off of Micah’s shiny leather shoes; minutes later, seated at a booth, they seem to revisit a familiar conversation, getting back to business by simply picking up where they left off. That’s just how they work—there’s no beginning or end to the story they’re always rewriting, only the freedom to make up the rules up as they go. The same can be said for how they derive inspiration for new ideas. As Ari describes, “It’s just always happening. It’s all very unprogrammed and organic; Micah might be at a market and discover a cool new herb, while I’m meeting with people at the bar and scoping out spirits. We’re both always running around, so we leave each other tastes of what we’ve uncovered that day and just go from there.”
And sometimes, those discoveries lead to bigger projects, like the brothers’ newest venture, Zeppelin, which opened its doors just last year. Located a short block away, Zeppelin is in some ways a continuation of Chaplin’s with its large Godzilla-themed mural that’s splashed across the building’s exterior and Japanese-style cuisine—although in this case, sushi and yakitori take the place of ramen. But despite the similarities, Zeppelin has more than a little flair of its own to offer—the brothers wouldn’t have had it any other way. The name itself has a dualistic meaning—it refers, of course, to the iconic Led Zeppelin, but also to the once fashionable German air and cruise ships from the late 1800’s. Each aspect of the vision comes together seamlessly inside; the bar downstairs feels like walking into an airship cocktail party, while patrons are encouraged to channel their inner rock star upstairs with late-night karaoke.
When studying their endeavors over the past five years, it’s clear that the Wilder brothers have mastered the art of the multidimensional restaurant. Their concepts are inventive, cohesive, and somehow approachable at the same time. But when it comes to explaining why their restaurants have flourished in an area where so many others that came before failed, there’s a lot more to it than that. For one, the experiences they’re serving up are built above all on finding common ground with their guests.
“We don’t like to tell people what they should like or even try, for that matter,’’ Micah explains. “For us, it’s all about identifying the things our customers genuinely enjoy so we can make thoughtful recommendations from there.” That philosophy of personalization extends to every part of their business model—from the menus that offer a plethora of options for even the most discerning diner, to the staff that’s empowered to spend time getting to know their guests, to the bars themselves that are designed to eliminate the need for bartenders to turn their backs while pouring.
But aside from the ingenuity, service, and fare, people return to both Chaplin’s and Zeppelin time after time because they feel at home there. It’s the same feeling, in fact, that Ari and Micah had when they moved to Shaw years ago. Instantly taken with the neighborhood’s energy and charm, they insist that they couldn’t have imagined launching their first (or second) restaurant anywhere else. What they wanted most of all was to give the people of Shaw a place of their own, a place to unwind with friends old and new, a place where they could immerse themselves in a distant world while keeping their feet firmly on familiar ground. The Wilder brothers are nothing if not committed to their vision, but a vision alone is nothing without the place where it comes to life, something Ari and Micah know all too well. That’s why they’ve made it their mission to keep a pulse on the community, always listening to what their patrons want before using those insights to inform their next move. At both Chaplin’s and Zeppelin, this fusion of creativity and local influence is ever-present. I actually witnessed it in action myself—while in the midst of deciding what type of sushi I was in the mood for, I saw Micah catching up with a group of people as if he’d known them for years. It took me a minute to realize that they were more than customers, they were family. “It’s just a very tight-knit group of people,” Ari reflects. “The regulars often bring gifts for Grayson, my son. We even spend holidays with them.”
Although the vibrancy and spirit that first drew Ari and Micah to Shaw years ago has never left, there’s little doubt that the neighborhood has evolved in other ways since Chaplin’s inception. While businesses back then couldn’t manage to stay afloat, these days, the area is replete with a slew of new restaurants and bars, many of which are helmed by previous colleagues of Ari’s and Micah’s. Today, they’re so proud of what their neighborhood has become, as they should be—their gamble years ago set in motion an era of entrepreneurship that has given new life to local culinary pursuits while paying tribute to the community’s roots along the way. And as for the brothers? On any given evening, you’re likely to find either one of them (if not both) back where it all started—in Shaw, running between their two restaurants, often behind the bar, and most of all—talking to the people who took a chance on them back when no one else knew what they were betting on.
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