The Chinatown wine bar rebrands as a hi-fi joint, and we are so there for it
For Paul McCloskey, running what might be Vancouver’s first dedicated vinyl-only hi-fi wine bar is something of a full-circle moment.
“It’s the combination of all the things I really love,” says the bar/general/music manager at the Michelin-recommended Bar Gobo.
This tiny space on Union Street recently debuted a custom-built analog sound system hand built by co-owner Kevin Bismanis with equipment supply and consulting by Space Lab in a room tuned for acoustic clarity by ArchiveElectronic. The combo of vintage and modern components has transformed Bar Gobo into an intimate listening bar with a killer drinks program.
It’s new for Vancouver, but for McCloskey it’s not all that new, and not just because he’d been a DJ before he fell into restaurants and wine.
“I was actually trying to start a hi-fi bar in Vancouver in 2019,” McCloskey says. Back then, he was still running The Arbour, the popular vegan restaurant that closed last year after an eight-year run, and Burdock & Co., Bar Gobo’s older sibling, was hosting “Disco Dumplings” on Monday nights. When the disco DJ eventually moved on, the music changed and the pop-up was renamed for the Japanese name for burdock: Bar Gobo.
“It was really cool and it was really well attended by industry people,” he says. When Burdock & Co.’s owners Andrea Carlson and Bismanis decided to open a natural wine bar in the old Parker location, the idea was to recreate the Bar Gobo vibe complete with cool sounds. “But the pandemic really kneecapped it,” McCloskey says.
Fast forward a few years and McCloskey found himself picking up a few shifts at what he calls “the best place in the city to get a glass of wine that nobody was going to.” When Carlson and Bismanis asked if he had any ideas for getting more people into Bar Gobo, he remembered the old Disco Dumpling days and says, “Thankfully the idea fell on the right ear.”
Bar Gobo’s rebranding as a hi-fi wine bar in late April coincided with North America’s 50 Best Bars’ arrival in Vancouver, so they hosted a trio of buzzy pop-ups featuring bar stars and tasty eats from Montreal to Mexico. The plan is to host more DJs and other guests, but always in keeping with the intimate vibe of what is, after all, a tiny and low-key space.
“One of the things we talk about quite a bit is the limitations of the space in every respect,” McCloskey says. “Even the type of music we play is affected by the size of the room. We’re going to make a bunch of choices we really like, but we’re not going to nerd out about them.”
He adds: “We’re choosing music like we’re choosing the wine that we serve.”
Whether it’s chef Ralph Cavallo’s Filipino-inspired menu (chicken liver mousse with guava jam, tuna crudo with spicy lime and daikon, confit ling cod with Meyer lemon pil pil sauce) or the tightly curated cocktail program (simple cocktails like Negronis and Martinis, pre-batched, made with B.C. spirits), the idea is that everything is executed with precision, but without pretension.
That goes for the wine, too, because, as McCloskey says, “Gobo will remain a wine bar forever. That’s the first focus, the draw of the space.”
The tightly edited wine list features interesting styles and varieties from near and far, including Averill Creek’s Joue “field blend” rosé from the Cowichan Valley, Ori Marani’s Rikatsiteli from Georgia and the Glow Glow Muller Thurgau from Germany.
“We want it to feel intentional,” McCloskey says. “There’s no space for extra.”
Bar Gobo is located at 237 Union Street, Vancouver.
—by Joanne Sasvari
