Jake's & Cooper's Wine Bar reopens, 6 months after flood

Jake's & Cooper's Wine Bar, the Manayunk mainstay, returns on Thursday, Jan. 26 - six months after an estimated 200,000 cubic feet of water flooded the restaurant's basement. The restaurant will be open for dinner Thursday through Sunday, with lunch added Monday, Jan. 30.

Unlike the usual Schuylkill flooding in Manayunk, Jake's was damaged by the effects of a ruptured water main under Main Street. "At the basement stairs, it was almost touching the rafters," owner Bruce Cooper said. "Everything was underwater." The facade and sidewalk crumbled.

Cooper offered special praise to his insurance carrier. He was covered for business interruption.

Cooper opened the restaurant as the fine-dining destination Jake's in 1987 but later added a pizza oven and a more casual bar next door, eventually making the entire restaurant more populist.