emoved from the flashing lights and velvet ropes of the clubbing scene is Santos Café. Fittingly so as quality food, drinks, music and décor underline the trendy café perfect for a cozier night on the town with friends or a special someone.

Located on the corner of St-Paul and St-François-Xavier in Old Montreal, Santos Café flourishes under the steady stream of young professionals and tasteful tourists in the neighborhood. With ten boutique hotels and plenty of office space in the neighbouring area known as Old Montreal West (the west side of St-Laurent boulevard), Santos is a hot commodity.

Created by Dave Evans, formerly the head chef of Time Supperclub and Time Café, Santos’ menu is an original concept named Pop Food, playing not on the origin of cuisine but rather on the idea of a pop-cultured, not-so-Spanish tapas type of menu. With 25 Pops on their menu, highlights include the gator fingers (yes, actual alligator camouflaged as chicken fingers), tequila lime shrimps, and Jack Daniels BBQ ribs. The kitchen remains open until midnight every night and you can certainly eat for under $20 including the ultra-heavy Santos Burger served with fries and salad for $18.

“You can come in and sip a coffee during the day or chill out with a martini at night,” explained Thomas Vernis, the youthful owner of Santos. “All we want to do is sell you pleasure in a relaxed atmosphere, no matter what time of day.”

The locale and the owner of Santos are both familiar to Montréal. The century-old stonewall of 194 St-Paul have housed jazz greats over the past 40 years, and more recently cooled out as Java U-lounge. Whereas Thomas, pronounced with a French twist according to his young wait staff, moved to Montreal from South France at 18-years-old to attend university. Two years later he was managing the always elite Buona Notte on St-Laurent followed with a couple years in that same role at the glamorous Time Supperclub, proving he deserves his place in the city’s crème-de-la-crème nightlife scene.