“So what the hell is a jackalope?” I ask.
Kristy Lynn Clark and Alexis Murphy, sitting across from me, look at me like they’re both questioning my intelligence.
“It’s over there, on our wall,” Murphy says, pointing to the mounted head of a rabbit with antelope horns coming out of it.
“It’s a mythical creature,” says Clark, jumping in. “Like Bigfoot.”
This animal, that may or may not exist, is the moniker of one of East Van’s newest establishments, Jackalope’s Neighbourhood Dive, a cozy space on East Hastings off of Vancouver’s culinary beaten path.
Owners Clark and Murphy said they opened the place a year ago for pretty simple reasons.
“We both live in this neighbourhood and we have a lot of friends here,” Clark says. Both women live within a few blocks of the restaurant. “There was really no place to hang out. We just wanted a place to for the community to come have some delicious food and local beers.”
Calling yourself a neighbourhood dive has a number of connotations and Jackalope’s encompasses mostly the positives. The restaurant is laid-back, unpretentious with the ambience of a friend’s home. Music is clearly integral to Jackalope’s with a constant stream of rock, blues, metal, country and punk playing on the not-too loud speakers. Along with the front-and-centre jackalope head, random art and objects adorn the dimly lit walls. A stuffed raccoon, a black-and-white photo of Bruce Springsteen, mismatching lampshades.
“This place is very DIY,” says Clark. “It’s very unique and personal. Almost everything in here has come from our homes, from garage sales. It has personality.”
“We’re a place where you can come eat breakfast and listen to Black Sabbath,” she adds.
And what you can have for breakfast, lunch or dinner is a small-but-refined menu of comfort-food items like skillet cornbread, breakfast nachos and a beef brisket. The bar keeps thirsty customers happy with a rotating selection of local pints as well as craft cocktails like the Lavender Lemonade.
In what is a backwards process to how restaurants usually come to fruition, Jackalope’s space came to the pair before the idea for an actual restaurant.
“We were renting the space next door (for a pet store) and our landlord was like, ‘Do you want it?’” says Murphy. “We said yes before really knowing what we were going to do with it.”
In spite of not having a clear vision initially, business has been good in the inaugural year and buzz around the small establishment is getting louder.
“This place has gotten a lot busier than expected. I mean look at our kitchen…it’s tiny,” Murphy says laughing. “We’ve been working hard, trying to keep up with the pace.”
With the increasing business, it has also been a lot of work.
“A fuck-ton of work,” says Clark. “Every day is different and has new problems, but it’s fun. Yeah it’s fun. It’s getting better.”
• 2257 East Hastings | 604-568-6674 | JackalopesDive.com
