1663-37 Art Deco/Preservation TUE OCT 07 1986 ED: FINAL
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 32 . 65" LONG
ILLUST: photo: Wolf ie COHEN
SOURCE: BELINDA BROCKMAN Herald Staff Writer
DATELINE:
MEMO:
WOLFIE COHEN,
'RASCAL' OF
RESTAURATEURS,
DEAD AT 74
Wolf ie Cohen, the irreverent "million-dollar rascal" restaurateur who
built the Rascal House, Wolfie' s and Pumpernik' s, died Sunday at age 74 .
Mr. Cohen had recently suffered from diabetes, heart problems and kidney
failure, said his partner and brother-in- law, Norman Stamler.
"A rascal, a devil, a mazik, he was all of that, " said Stamler. "He
always went against the tide, but always came up on top. "
With the uninhibited appeal of a lovable shaggy dog, the heavyset Mr.
Cohen turned gimmickry, hijinks and great food into a successful restaurant
career.
He was as his own Rascal House menu immodestly proclaimed, the million-
dollar rascal.
Mr. Cohen' s style was anything but classic. Classicism was reserved for
the near-legendary tales about him.
Thirty-two years ago, when he opened his sixth and last restaurant, the
Sunny Isles Rascal House, he wanted to name the place "momser, " a not-very-
nice Yiddish term that means "bastard. " His parents said that was just fine,
but local rabbis said it wasn' t. They asked him to reconsider.
"They had no feel for public relations, " said Mr. Cohen in an interview
years later.
He once erected a four-foot chain-link "spite fence" across a Collins
Avenue shopping strip because a neighboring store put up a canopy that blocked
his sign.
When good friend Danny Kaye came to dine at Mr. Cohen' s Wolfie' s, the
restaurant owner paraded into the dining room, resplendent with napkin draped
over his arm. The two got up and proceeded to perform "an act that had them in
stitches, " said Stamler.
Though he was born Wolfe Fred Cohen, the businessman had his name
legally changed to the childhood nickname Wolf ie in 1952 . Whenever he sold a
successful restaurant named after him, he also sold the right to his name.
"It ' s one of the most important reasons we bought the restaurant, " said
current Wolfie ' s owner Joseph Nevel.
Nevel remembered "a phenomenal restaurant, a good businessman who was
very good with people, who could create an aura of excitement around him. "
But selling the name, left him, on occasion, strapped for new titles.
Take Pumpernik' s, at 67th Street on the Beach. It took one full year to
name that restaurant, for Mr. Cohen wanted only names that nobody else would
use, on the theory that vacationers never remembered "Al ' s" or "Bob' s. "
He finally derived the name from a cartoon character, Uncle
Pumpernickel. In the meantime, the restaurant served up business under a
banner that simply bore a question mark. Fans had begun calling it the "No-
name Restaurant. "
From humble beginnings as a pawn shop jewelry salesman and Catskills
busboy and waiter, Mr. Cohen began a career that would find him a businessman,
racehorse owner and even Miami Beach councilman. In each role, he remained a
maverick.
When the Rascal House opened in 1954 , he didn't buy any advertising
other than one ad in a local shopper.
"We've always done things completely adverse to anyone, how little
advertising we've done, " he once said. "We will use it in such a way that
people will talk about us that we' re crazy. "
On opening day at Pumpernik' s, Mr. Cohen invited cops and cab drivers to
eat free because they recommended restaurants to tourists.
For the opening of the Rascal House, everyone was invited. Four thousand
diners showed up, and many of them kept coming to the place included in
Esquire magazine' s 1985 list of outstanding bars and restaurants in America.
One stunt found Mr. Cohen' s publicist appearing on the nationally
televised Arthur Godfrey show with a batch of bagels. Though many couldn't
keep bagels straight from bugles, respondents to that particular promotion
wrote from all over, putting Pumpernik' s on the map.
After many years of good fortune, Mr. Cohen said, "Miami Beach did so
much for me, let me see what I can do for Miami Beach, " Stamler said. The zany
restaurateur ran for a Beach council seat in 1959 .
In typical fashion, even his political campaign literature was far from
status quo. One newspaper ad called for constituents to "Vote for Wolfie Cohen
and three other good candidates. " Yet another featured two of his poodles
imploring voters to pull lever 3A for Wolfie Cohen, their master.
It worked. Wolfie Cohen was elected for a four-year term.
But it was always the restaurant business that remained closest to his
heart. From his corner table office, as chairman of the board, Mr. Cohen would
survey the goings-on and customers of the Rascal House, greeting friends and
loyal patrons with a pat of his hand.
"He was quite a guy, " said Stamler. "He had a great life. He had a great
deal of fun. "
Survivors include one son, Lewis; one daughter, Robin; a brother,
Albert; and a sister, Ruth Stamler.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Riverside Alton Road
Chapel.
Herald Staff Writer Clem Richardson contributed to this report.
ADDED TERMS: obituary
END OF DOCUMENT.