Vinyl brings live music, light bites, and cocktails to Center City

Rob Wasserman was listening to the nighttime crowd at Rouge, his boîte on Rittenhouse Square. Too mature for the dance clubs, they clamored for a venue offering live music in a cocktail setting.

Wasserman looked up concert producer Josh Zwirzina, who also owns The Ave, and found a venue at 215 S. 15th St., three blocks off the square. It is on the site of a former Applebee’s restaurant, which closed in 2020. Before that, it was Bookbinders Sea Food House from 1935 to 2003.

On Thursday, they open Vinyl, a venue with a capacity of 350, offering a diverse slate of live music and entertainment, as well as a sumptuous cocktail bar with bottle service available. Some shows will be ticketed, Wasserman explained, but most will not.

Initially open Wednesday through Saturday nights, Vinyl will add Sunday brunch in the fall.

Maggie Huth, creative director for Wasserman’s restaurants, designed the space, working with Otto Architects. The setup fell into the hands of Mary Moon, director of operations. “We were going with ‘historic Philadelphia at the turn of the 20th century,’” Huth said. “It’s a historic building and we wanted a classic look.”

The roomy bar, which seats 15 along the wall on the right side, is dark walnut. It’s framed in a set of intentionally distressed smoked mirrors. Heavy charcoal drapes cover the windows. Huth scoured flea markets and sales to snag 10 deliberately mismatched brass chandeliers, accented by brass sconces. As you head into the hallway to the restroom — individual stalls with a common sink — you finally see pops of color from what appears to be jazz-era floral wallpaper.

The back of the room, in front of low coffee table and sofa seating, is dominated by a stage with a full lighting package. Among the genres initially will be dueling pianos, modern rock, and country. Zwirzina’s background in EDM will be reflected in DJs.

The exterior windows feature four large-scale LED murals by local artist David Guinn, which evoke the feeling of lush living-room curtains in bold stripes. The lighting runs on a continuous loop of shifting colors and moods.

General manager Talia Tomarchio will run day-to-day operations. Beverage menu from Ross Binder includes cocktails ($14 to $16), bottle service for VIP lounge seating; wines (priced in the mid-teens); and local beers ($9 and $10 for drafts).

Culinary director Matthew Moon and executive chef James McQueen have kept the menu light, offering such dishes as shrimp cocktail, a cheese board, goat cheese-stuffed dates, octopus escabeche, flatbreads, and caviar served with kettle chips and sour cream ($125 for an ounce of sturgeon or $700 for the 8-ounce splurge of paddlefish).

Hours will be 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesdays and Thursdays, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

For Thursday’s premiere, a cover band Kristen & The Noise will play, with house-music DJ Oscar N on Friday, and acoustic singer Don’t Call Me Tina on Saturday, Future acts include Dueling Pianos: The Philly Keys (July 26 and Aug. 2) and New Orleans street performer Jourdan Blue (July 27 and July 28).