Little sister for Jake's

In the saga that is the rise and fall and sort of reconsideration of main-street Manayunk, there has always been - steady as she goes - Jake's, turning 21, drinking age, next month.

Getting carded, of course, has rarely been an issue at Jake's, a genteel bastion of arguably the best grilled calf's liver (with apple hash and port-marinated onions) in town, and crab cakes that, for years, have kept regulars loyally trooping back.

No, Jake's has been for grown-ups: In a sea of increasingly down-market beer joints and "drink specials," on a strip that toward midnight gets fratty-er and boozier, it has catered to an older, more refined clientele, denizens of Chestnut Hill and the moneyed Main Line.

In its first cautious expansion in two decades, its conjoined new sister, Cooper's Brick Oven Wine Bar, has maintained the original's civility, but slightly upped the amps and energy.

Here for $13 - half the average entree price of Jake's - you can get a lush flatbread pizza oozy with a shred of short rib, caramelized onion, Parmesan and horseradish cream. And very decent wines by the glass go for under $10, though you can go crazy with a glass of velvety Bouchaine pinot noir for $14, which is two dollars more than a half carafe of Cooper's "Cheap Red," a Beringer Vineyards table wine.

Cooper's is the inspiration of Jake's chef-owner Bruce Cooper, who got in on a Manayunk land rush early, itching to move on from his chef's post at Lower Merion's Lankenau Hospital. To complement Jake's - but not compete with it - he'd envisioned a wine bar, but had a devil of a time finding the right space.

Then in the churn that is Main Street, the Chico's clothing shop next door moved out, freeing up the long, narrow room he has since redone in warm Tuscan golds, handsome booths, and a row of oversized hanging lamps leading to the pizza oven glowing in the back.

The pizzas that emerge are tasty affairs, enough for two. They have bready, fairly crisp crusts, though without the sublime crackery crispness of, say, Osteria's on North Broad Street, or even of a surprising newcomer's - Cafe Estelle - on Fourth Street, south of Spring Garden (see Craig LaBan's review above).

But the toppings make for a small meal. And they exhibit Cooper's affection for the local foodscape. The mozzarella is from Ninth Street's Claudio's. The Italian fennel sausage from venerable Fiorella's. The ricotta from Phil Mancuso's on Passyunk. The goat cheese from Chester County's Shellbark Hollow Farm.