A Vancouver Bar Gets a Makeover from a Legendary Chicago Bartender

A cocktail luminary with 25 years in the industry, Toby Maloney is best known for opening the Violet Hour in Chicago’s Wicker Park in 2007. At the time, the neighborhood was considered more down-and-out than up-and-coming, but Maloney—fresh from stints at New York City’s famed Milk & Honey and Pegu Club—turned a cavernous space into what the Chicago Tribune called the city’s “first craft cocktail mecca.” The birthplace of the Paper Plane, the Violet Hour helped kick off the Cocktail Renaissance in Chicago, leading to a 2015 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Service. But rather than hand-carving ice at a dreamy, big city cocktail haven, today Maloney can be found shaking drinks in Vancouver, Washington, at a bar recently restored to a 1970s mix of grit and glamour.

Resurrecting Vancouver’s historic, long-closed bar the Elbow Room might seem an odd move for a bartender of Maloney’s pedigree. But this is no West Coast version of the now-closed Violet Hour—it’s more akin to his other Chicago bar, Mother’s Ruin, a low-key neighborhood spot that has hosted indie sleaze dance parties and Chicago Pride kickoffs. The Elbow Room mirrors this vibe, approachable and unfussy but with a hardcore cocktail background.

To expedite service, Maloney equipped the Elbow Room with a bevy of mixers, each a carefully portioned blend drawing from an apothecary’s worth of components: bergamot juice, oleo saccharum, cacao, génépy, prickly pear. The team uses these mixers for a menu of five drinks named for their base spirit—vodka, gin, rum, agave, and whiskey. The opening menu’s gin drink is like summer in a glass, ginger and cucumber-mint juice with a floral breeze of Lady Grey tea. In the agave drink, hibiscus and prickly pear add a careful balance of tart and sweet to tequila.

Maloney and his team slide these concoctions over a long mahogany bar cushioned in chocolate naugahyde, as diners sip them on stools and in the matching booths bathed in the red, flickering light of votive holders. Pretenders and David Bowie records spin while a loop of ’80s and ’90s TV shows play on a small television against wood paneled walls. The effect gives the Elbow Room a retro-sexy vibe, equally ideal for a first date, a night out with friends, or a contemplative drink alone.

The concise food menu adds to the nostalgic charm, focused on various iterations of grilled cheese and tater tots: think grilled cheese with sautéed mushrooms and Swiss, cacio e pepe tots. Smashed potato nuggets laden with caviar are meant to be individual finger food bites, reminiscent of retro cocktail parties—or perhaps a pescetarian answer to the recent fried chicken and caviar fad.

The Elbow Room first opened in 1970 when entrepreneur Paul Bell bought a string of shops—an ice creamery, shoe store, and barbershop—and combined them into a restaurant and bar. Paul’s Restaurant was a diner that maintained the ice creamery’s soda fountain, and the barbershop became the Elbow Room. While the diner remained a neighborhood favorite, eventually the bar garnered a grungy reputation—its main draws were its early hours and cheap booze.

In the late 1980s, Bell sold the businesses to husband and wife John and Margaret Yu, who ran it for more than 30 years before, in turn, selling it to married couple Paul Rosenbluh and Monique King in late 2024. The couple had years of experience renovating older restaurants in Los Angeles—including Cindy’s on historic Route 66—but had never opened a cocktail bar. Luckily, they knew who to call: King and Maloney had met in 1990s Chicago and had remained close ever since.

Maloney was initially brought in to get the bar up and functioning, but shortly after entering the Elbow Room for the first time, the conversation with King and Rosenbluh shifted from “you” to “we.” “This space is so magical and special. It needed more involvement from me,” he says. Maloney will stick around for a bit before jetting off to his next bar project, but don’t worry if you miss him this go-around—he’ll be here regularly to check in and change up recipes.

Vancouver’s dining scene has historically been overshadowed by Portland’s, but a $1.5 billion waterfront development—along with downtown draws like Little Conejo, from Nodoguro alum Mark Wooten and Noble Rot’s Mychal Dynes—has spurred interest. Portland-based chains like Grassa and Salt & Straw have unveiled Vancouver outposts in recent years. The Elbow Room may not have Violet Hour aspirations, but it speaks to the continued growth of Uptown Village and all of Vancouver.