he vibe may be stylish ‘Burrard Street-eria,' but in the capable hands of a few Van stalwarts, café society sounds fresh again.

For what seemed forever, the Death By Chocolate location was a solid fixture on Burrard near Robson. And it did well. You'd think that the musos who lived for their sweet tooth would either gain access to some hardcore sexual replacement or simply adjust to reality and get shoegazing with a good, healthy glass of vodka.

But if you’re not of that ilk, you’ll need to know that a new café-lounge has firmly positioned itself in that very location, bringing with it Burrard Street’s most enticing, demographically democratic offering of late.

Caffe Sette’s room isn’t really even that distinctive, it’s not well located - and the stark street-ware outside the windows offers no interesting vista (except that of tourists taking pictures of what they think might be Vancouver distinctiveness), but who cares? You’ll want to drink everything on the menu.

But if the attractive crowds inhabiting the deep orange-red space is any indication, Ali Roshanravan’s café-meets-cocktail lounge scurries to catch two distinctive realms: a slower and slower-paced (and obviously derivative) panini-injected café by day; citrus martini guzzling lounge superhero by night. Both shifts work a fairly dexterous menu (grilled Italian paninis; foccacia and various dips; roasted chicken breast with marinated artichokes, that kind of thing) as second lead, and a martini list that, if citified up a tad, would be in four-star hotel-lounge land.