Around the City for Food and Comedy in the Honda CR-V

I recently spent a week test driving the Honda CR-V 2023 car around Vancouver while trying some dishes at some new restaurants as well as taking in some comedy.

I visited Rise Up Marketplace for some tasty Jamaican Patties as well as some of their Hot chocolate and cookies. It’s a very cool convenience store of sorts that features home-made Jamaican food along with some other cool things.

Rise-up Marketplace is located at 704 Vernon Drive in Vancouver. You can follow them on instagram @riseupmarketplace

The next day I headed over to Chop & Chew in North Vancouver for their Comedy Night which takes place every Tuesday night featuring a line-up of up and coming comics. Enjoyed a wonderful night of comedy and great food with my friend Ajay as we shared some dishes that included the tasty Mushroom Wings, Fries and their Chop & Chew platter with the chicken and bison sausage links, slaw and mashed potatoes.

The night we were there, the headliners were Bradley Sakawsky and Amber Dalsey and Bobin Manga.

Chop & Chew is located at 1842 Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver. You can follow them on instagram @chopandcheww

The CR-V car has a roomy front area as well as a large cargo area of the back of the car. It has good driveability, a smooth ride, and comfortable seating.

This year’s version of the CR-V has grander proportions and more passenger space. The car interior has an attractive design inspired by the Civic compact car and is complemented by modern tech, including an infotainment system with an available 9.0-inch touchscreen that has wireless Apple CarPlay which I used frequently.

Stopped by Burger Crush for one of their Strawberry Vegan Shakes which are always so good. This is a fairly new eatery that specializes in burgers, fries and shakes. Burger Crush is located at 755 Nelson Street in Vancouver, you can follow them on instagram @_burgercrush

The next day we drove out to the new Lelem Village in West Point Grey which is on the UBC Endowment Lands to Wildlight Kitchen & Bar for dinner.

The approachable, premium-casual concept highlights ethically sourced, seasonal ingredients in modern all-day dishes by homegrown culinary talent, Chef Warren Chow. His menu is matched by select regional wines and handcrafted cocktails, all served in a warmly welcoming and stylish dining space.

We both had the Responsible Negroni made with the Lumetti spirits. Later in the meal we had the Rumless Pom Daiquiri’s.

I loved the Wildlight Pescatarian charcuterie Board that featured Housemade salmon pastrami, beet cured ling cod, marinated Salt Spring Island Mussels, smoked albacore tataki, cod rillette, pickled sea asparagus, warm olives, rye, poppadom and nori crackers. The UBC Farms Harvest Greens was a tasty salad.

The Seared Hokkaido Scallops with lobster & truffle risotto were outstanding as was the Celeriac Agnolotti.

The Miso Koju Gindara Sablefish was a standout as was the BC Duck with the dijon spaetzle.

For dessert, my favourite of the two was the Coconut Cannoli with mascarpone & lime filling, chocolate soil, pistachio, passionfruit sorbet; we also tried the Caramelized Honey Cheesecake.

Wildlight Kitchen + Bar is located at 107-5380 University Blvd in Vancouver. Reservations can be made by phone at 604-915-0722 or online at wildlightrestaurant.ca follow @wildlightrestaurant on Instagram.

I headed over to the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood the next day for lunch at a new Mexican eatery, Tamaly Shop.

Serving freshly made savoury and sweet tamales, tacos, tortas, and other Mexican specialties. Their business was born during the pandemic where they started out making tamale in a commissary, fast track to now and they are selling their house-made tamales to grocery stores, through farmers markets, in their cafe and soon widely available wholesale to other restaurants and stores.

The cafe also features a live mariachi band playing every Saturday and Sunday at 1pm.

I enjoyed my visit as I tasted many of their different food and drink items.

Mole with chicken tamale was very good as was the Mole croissant with chicken and cheese.

I tried a selection of their Tacos: Pork carnitas, Potato wedges and Lamb Birria.

The Horchata was good as was the Pork with salsa verde tamale and the Tamale Torta

Both the Mangolada and the Horchata smoothie were refreshing and paired well with the food offerings.

Loved both dessert tamales, the Tamal chocolate and the Blackberry and cream cheese tamale as well as the Dulce de Leche coffee.

The Tamale Shop cafe and store is located at 2525 Main Street in Vancouver. You can follow them on instagram @tamalyshop

Caught up with my friend AJ for coffee and treats at Wicked Café’s new location in West Point Grey on 16th near Dunbar.

I had a Cortado made by Martin Ladnak who creates intricate latte art. They do all their baking in-house now and I loved their Almond Croissant.

Also tried their Smoked Meat Sandwich made on their house-baked ciabatta bread.

Lastly so had that the S’mores cookie which is one of my all time faves in the city. The cafe is beautiful and this creative crew is also selling plants at this location.

Wicked Cafe is located at 3605 W. 16th Ave in Vancouver. You can follow them on instagram @wicked_cafe