The joint was jumping.
On stage the legendary Frankie "The Soul Man" Austin was giving the festive crowd serious blues, crooning about heartache and headaches.
A standing-room-only crowd of VIP's and others who make it their business to be at the right place at the right time was swaying to the music, dining on southern-style food and toasting the birth of a new downtown nightspot.
The opening two weeks ago of Warmdaddy's - a place that combines live blues and authentic soul food - was all that and more. Mingling among the 500 celebrators were Mayor Rendell, City Councilman Michael Nutter, radio talk- show host E. Stephen Collins and KYW-TV's Trudy Haynes.
The crowd came to congratulate the Bynum brothers - Robert and Benjamin Jr. - who opened Warmdaddy's as a companion to Zanzibar Blue, their highly successful Center City jazz cafe.
"They've done it again," said Kernie Anderson, general manager of WDAS radio, as he surveyed the room. "What an outstanding addition to Philadelphia's cultural scene, a place right on the waterfront with great music and soul food."
From the looks of things that night - the cheers, the greetings, the hugs, the kisses, the pride, the mournful but buoyant music - it seems that the Bynum brothers have indeed done it again.
They added a new facet to Center City night life five years ago when they opened Zanzibar Blue at 11th and Pine Streets. The pair combined international cuisine with a wide range of jazz in an upscale environment that attracted a broad mix of people. Zanzibar is now known far and wide, like Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem or Blues Alley in Washington.
"There were people who said that Philadelphia was a city that rolls up its sidewalk at night, and (that) people won't hang out and support a jazz club that plays music until one o'clock in the morning," said Robert Bynum, a few days after the Warmdaddy's opening.
But Warmdaddy's is changing that perception of Philadelphia. The Bynums' new place opens at 5 p.m. every day except Monday. And it stays open until 2 a.m. Tonight, Koko Taylor plays at 9.
Now, with Warmdaddy's, the brothers hope to capitalize on their shared expertise in entertainment and food, and their knack for creating a black cultural experience that appeals to everyone.
''It will be like Zanzibar where everybody, black, white, or whatever, feels comfortable going there," said Collins, of WDAS-FM (105.3). "And it's not just the food or the atmosphere, it's the way they run their operations."
