Nightlife in Vancouver

At The Academic Public House, patrons choose from a huge selection of specialty cocktails, whiskies, and craft beers, and peruse a menu of nibbles made from locally sourced meat and organic cheeses and eggs. Crispy pancetta surfs atop the Modern Pub burger’s grass-fed beef patty ($14), and the blackened chicken sandwich’s brioche bun hoists Maple Hill Farms free-run organic chicken, BC farmstead cheddar, and veggies ($14). Reasoning with the Angry mussels ($12) requires a cool head, acquaintance with Robert’s Rules of Order, and an appreciation for thai coconut curry, ginger, and basil. Modern twists settle themselves in brunch favourites such as short-rib hash ($14) and late-night treats.

Since 2002, 25Dates.com's staff has created age-specific dating events like this for straight, gay, and lesbian singles in LA, Chicago, New York City, and all across Canada. At a typical event, they set up attendees with 25 one-on-one dates at stylish downtown venues, each lasting three minutes. After each mini-date, participants write "yes" or "no" behind the ID number of the person they just met. 25Dates.com then finds mutual matches and exchanges the two parties' contact info. In addition to countless happy case studies, more than 75% of participants find at least one match, a number that has caught the eye of myriad press outlets.

The Charlatan's rich, mahogany ambience complements the smoky, mesquite flavours and applewood-scented entrees that make this local pub one to top the to-do list. Hearty menu items such as the house-pulled pork ($14) assuages whiny bellies, while the chicken pot pie ($13) and mom's meatloaf ($13) satisfy a deeply rooted down-home hunger pangs. Fifteen beers on tap, 12 wines by the glass, and a creative cocktail list cure a homesick soul in one sip, whereas drinking the 911 wing sauce is not recommended unless you've gone and frozen your teeth to the flagpole again.

Rendezvous Club may not have a hidden stock of cupid’s arrows, but it does have its fair share of date cards. While they may not be as whimsical as love-yielding weaponry, club founders Hillary and Chris have found they tend to be just as effective. At some chapters, Rendezvous Club's hosts hand the cards out during speed-dating parties and dinner-dating events that serve three-course meals. Using them, singles can jot down the names, characteristics, and preferred Monopoly game pieces of people they’re interested in meeting again. For those who prefer more organic dating atmospheres, Select locations feature less-structured singles parties and mix-and-mingle events that round up singles and let them converse on their own, aided by complimentary appetizers.

Chalkboard menus and sports memorabilia adorn the inside of The Sin Bin Sports Grill, where full lunch, dinner, and brunch menus keep bellies as full as the bar’s event calendar. Sports fans join their ilk beneath 106 inches of projected television screen, and comedy fans take in standup one to two times a week. During lunch and dinner, tapas, blue-cheese-decked strip steaks, and burgers accompany the entertainment; and come midday on weekends, brunchers can sink their teeth into a variety of benedicts: blackened chicken, smoked salmon, and portobello gouda are just a few of the options.

Fighting Chance Productions has been praised by the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Courier for engaging its audiences with a diverse and dynamic playbill. As artistic director and founder of the nonprofit company, Ryan Mooney has amassed an enchanting ensemble to woo theatregoers in the 2011–2012 season with renditions of classics such as The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Charles Dickens's final, unfinished novel, and the sultry musical Sweet Charity, the melodious tale of a dancer-for-hire's attempts to conceal her profession from her bashful betrothed. Patrons can savour the quirky comedy and emotional candour of an all-male troupe performance of Jon Maran's The Temperamentals, a play about the first LGBT organization in the United States and the love affair between its founding members. The farcical woes of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum will resonate with viewers also grappling with the plight of mistaken identities and low-thread-count togas in the same historic Jericho Arts Centre in which Cathy Wilmot exhibits one-woman wizardry channelling the reclusive estrangement of socialites Edith Beale and Little Edie Beale in the production of Grey Gardens.