Bruce Cooper awoke to a phone call from the fire department at 5 a.m. one morning in July to learn that his restaurant, Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar, his life’s work, had been struck by a water main break. As he drove across the Green Lane bridge on the morning of July 15, he could see numerous emergency vehicles and immediately feared the worst.
He found that the basement of his popular Manayunk restaurant was overcome with water, the sidewalk was crumbled to pieces and there was water, mud and rock as far as the eye could see.
“Seeing my refrigerator floating in 7 feet of water was shocking to me,” Cooper recalls. In the aftermath of the clean-up came a moment of clarity. “After 29 years on Main Street, I soon realized that this was the perfect opportunity to rethink everything we do at the restaurant.”
In January 2017, Jake’s and Cooper’s Wine Bar will emerge better than ever with much more than a kitchen renovation and modest improvements. The restaurant opted to transform some of its long-standing programs during its downtime. New items are now seen in the restaurant’s lunch, dinner, happy hour and dessert menus.
The most significant change comes in the form of a brand new wine program. Cooper carefully hand-selected more than 50 wines from around the globe—all for purchase for under $50. Additionally, the restaurant has doubled its draft beer system, going from 6 to 12 taps, and will now offer two new draft wines to pair nicely with the already successful $15 carafe “cheap” wine program.
Some of the restaurant’s signature staples, such as crab cakes, short rib pizza and burgers, will remain on the menu for years to come. Notable changes include the addition of hand-selected cheeses from local farms, fresh pasta made by hand and a seasonal facelift to entrees and small plates.
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Find Jake’s & Cooper’s Wine Bar at 4365 Main St. in Manayunk; phone: (215) 483-0444.
- Photos: Jake's & Cooper's Wine Bar
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