Cooper's

On a recent Friday night, I found myself waiting hungrily for dinner right where a wall used to stand between the storefronts at 4365 and 4367 Main Street in Manayunk.

There's a hole cut through now, forming a common foyer between two restaurants, the upscale mainstay, Jake's, and its casual new sibling, Cooper's Brick Oven Wine Bar, where a clothing store used to be. To stand directly between them is to observe more than merely a sharp contrast in styles, but a side-by-side snapshot of two distinct eras in Philadelphia dining.

To my right is the high-style classic Jake's, its vaulted-ceiling room a tranquil yellow oasis for silver-haired diners supping on the enduring New American standbys - duck confit spring rolls, grilled calves' liver, cider-soy barbecued salmon, and $39 steaks - that have made it the fine-dining champ of Manayunk for 21 years. It's a stylish survivor in a neighborhood that's seen its cachet rise and fall over the last decade. But like so many white-tablecloth eateries across the city these days, Jake's dining room has been less than full recently, despite slightly lowering its menu prices and allowing BYOB on weeknights.

On my left, meanwhile, is the happy pandemonium of Cooper's, where a swell of spirited young drinkers jostles up to the long bar with glasses of grüner veltliner and Belgian ale, nibbling house-baked bread balls and brown bags of fresh potato chips dusted in vinegar powder as they wait - an hour or more - for a seat.

And they will wait, because Cooper's has clearly tapped the casual zeitgeist of 2008, from its small plates and gourmet pizzas at $15 and under to the fact that its 30-label wine bar is also bolstered with 20 serious craft beers. The laid-back vibe of the room, with deep pleather booths, tall tables, and an earth-toned abstract wall mural, is a departure from the tony chic that has been Jake's signature for so long.

But with a shared kitchen and service staff (and a partially shared menu), I've come to think of these two spots as the split personality of one restaurateur - owner and executive chef Bruce Cooper - rather than as distinct operations. (In fact, you can order off both menus from each dining room.) And the addition has injected some serious energy and fresh traffic - essentially doubling Jake's size, but quadrupling the number of meals Jake's once served.