Cobra

Cobra opened in October 2023 at 684 South High Street, a few doors up from Law Bird in the Brewery District, under four owners: Alex Chen and Jack Bennett, who had helped open Watershed Kitchen + Bar, and David Yee and Josh Spiers, who came from Oddfellows. The concept is an Asian-American neighbourhood bar — the owners' shorthand is a "good night bar" — with a kitchen turning out handmade noodles and other late-night food long after most Columbus kitchens have closed, and a room that stays open until 2am six nights a week. National attention followed quickly, and the bar has since been named among the country's best new openings.

The non-alcoholic list is where the bar's stated philosophy is easiest to see. Bar manager David Yee was among the bartenders Forbes canvassed for its 2025 beverage trend predictions, and used the space to argue that low- and no-proof drinks were becoming central rather than supplementary. The two builds he pointed to are instructive. The Pool Float is a zero-proof drink engineered to carry the serrano-and-cilantro backbone of Above Ground Pool, one of the bar's full-proof cocktails, so that the non-drinking guest gets the same flavour idea rather than a sweeter substitute. All Gas No Brakes is a no-proof boilermaker: Pathfinder's non-alcoholic amaro poured alongside a non-alcoholic IPA from a locally owned brewer, which in Columbus means Good Liar, the city's own zero-proof beer brand. Both are built from the same Asian-American flavour vocabulary as the rest of the menu — the point Yee makes is that the NA drinks are a way of sharing that perspective with guests who are not drinking, not a way of parking them. The kitchen is a real part of the proposition rather than a bar-snack afterthought — handmade noodles and Asian-American cooking served until late, in a city where most kitchens close by ten — which makes Cobra one of the more practical late-night options for someone who is not drinking but wants to be out. The room stays open until 2am six nights a week and closes Tuesdays.