On a warm summer day about a year ago, it was standing room only at Wilde Beest, a garden-to-table restaurant that had just opened. Those lucky enough to get a table included the actors Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig — James Bond himself.

In the sage-green and white dining room, customers sat under taxidermy pheasants. Menus arrived in mysterious black envelopes, while at the end of the meal, checks were tucked into vintage Smithsonian science books . The music, selected by Chef CT Turgeon, who opened Wilde Beest with five friends, played on a turntable. All of the guests were given a playlist.

A year later, although menus now dispense with the envelopes and customers no longer receive playlists (“several people called us out on Yelp for being hipsters and elitists,” Mr. Turgeon said), business is still booming.

Wilde Beest is not in Williamsburg or Bushwick, however. The restaurant is in Kingston, about 90 miles north of New York.