From the mid-80s into the early 2000s, the Godfather of the Philadelphia nightlife scene was David Cohen, who ran the darkly exciting legendary after-hours club REVIVAL and later the enormously popular and infamous Club EVOLUTION.

David also created the American Craft Brew Festival series and Jake & Oliver’s House of Brews, a 60 Tap Micro Brew house and restaurant in Old City named after his two sons Jacob and Oliver.

Fast forward 22 years, Jacob Cohen became an accomplished young percussionist who has recorded and performed live with several national touring acts — notably Jimmy Buffet protege Ilo Ferreira — and as part of the band for various Broadway musical shows.

After getting his real estate broker’s license, he started working for Barbara Corcoran and became a sales star in the hot Brooklyn boom.

Jacob returned to Philadelphia about 18 months ago and went into the real estate practice with his father David and brought with him two young hot-shot New York real estate guys Alex Halimi and Saul Mazur.

Jacob lured Alex and Saul down here with the promise of great opportunities, which they acted on decisively by buying the property at the south end of Penn Treaty Park which they are now developing into a community of million dollar plus waterfront townhomes.

While they’re waiting to get through some detail issues on the Penn Treaty Park property, Alex and Saul decided to buy other properties. After several successful small purchases arranged by David and Jacob, they came across this location 2327 East York Street which was an ideal location for a cool dive bar in the super-hot Fishtown neighborhood.

Now, the father and son team with lots of Philly bar and nightclub cred are partners with two Brooklyn guys who love Philadelphia.

Food and booze will be inspired by the eclectic dive bars of Brooklyn, but with a heavy emphasis on Pennsylvania. In fact, all 8 beers or ciders on draft will be from PA.

The menu was designed by Chef John “Chainsaw” Taus of Wm. Mulherin’s Sons with input by Nelson Cintron*. Some items include:

• Chick ‘n Biz – fried chicken cutlet, whipped honey butter, Frank’s hot, pickles on a house-made biscuit – $12

• Three Amigos – three house-made black bean patties, guacamole, cilantro, red onion on brioche buns – vegetarian  – $13

• Filthy Animal – fried pork chop, coleslaw, pickles on a house-made biscuit – $13

• Hush Puppies – with whipped honey butter – $4

• Nelson’s Cauliflower – with house-made general tso’s dressing – $11(vegan and gluten-free)

Special cocktails by Zachary Italian include:

• BDN (named for Superbowl MVP Nick Foles)- Love City Sylvie stout, vanilla faber vodka, baileys – $10

• Kensington Mudslide – fudge pop, Faber vodka, coke – $8

• Nitty Gritty (for the new flyers mascot nitty gritty) – Faber orange vodka, cream soda, triple sec, splash of orange juice – $8

• Saul’s Sweet Tea– house made Tennessee style sweet tea, mint infused whiskey, lemon – $9

Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday 4 p.m to 2 a.m. and weekends noon to 2 a.m. Kitchen will close 11 PM weekdays, 1 AM weekends.

Sergeant York will feature a daily Happy Hour 5-7 PM. Activities will include Quizzo, DJ’s, three big screens for game day. An old-school CD jukebox loaded with classics from every era.

*Article has been updated to reflect information that was received after it was originally published.

Marilyn Johnson

Food enthusiast. Travel lover. Social media maven.
Independent Journalist. Food marketing/PR expert.
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