Last night, Le Saloon celebrated its 20th anniversary with a carnival themed bash that pulled out all the stops when it comes to how one should celebrate getting wiser.
The event was invite only, but when you’ve been around for 20 years, you tend make a lot of friends. The place was jam packed full of Montreal’s hottest trotters (seriously, how many good looking people can you fit in one restaurant, Saloon?) and we were all ready to par-tay. The theme was very fitting as any given night can be a circus at Saloon but last night, they really upped the ante.
From the minute we walked into the restaurant we knew we were in for quite a night. For the event, they removed the chairs and tables to make space for the standing room only crowd. This also cleared the floor for the acrobats who danced from the ceiling (FYI, JP + Philip – this really should be a kept as a regular thing), they performed juggling acts and balancing acts and bent over backwards to show us all a good time. The sharply dressed restaurant staff was great, as usual, as they kept us going with food and drink throughout the evening. The champagne flowed all night and Perrier supplied some very tasty and refreshing drinks on the front terrace. I spoke with Philip Demers, owner of the restaurant, who expressed that he was a little nervous about the immensity of such an evening, but as the night went on, everything went off without a hitch and he was having as good a time as the rest of us.
I’ve been going back to Saloon quite a bit over the years and I’ve seen several steps in its evolution. My friends and I have often arrived early in the evening and have been the last to stumble out leave at the end of the night and through it all we have never had a bad time. Every now and then, a meal and a few drinks at Saloon has led to some good old fashion trouble which has made the restaurant an integral part of many of our stories. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the idea of #Thirstday night was born at one of their tables.
The restaurant business in Montreal is finicky. One minute you’re the hottest place in the city, the next you’re out. For a restaurant to be around 20 years is no small feat but Saloon, the Village’s number one nightlife destination, and one of Montreal’s best restaurants has pulled it off in style.
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