Best of MTL 2018: Nightlife

“What an honour to be nominated in the Top 5 Best Bartender list. I’m excited to represent part of the Montreal industry in such a great magazine. Séquito [her award-winning cocktail] means entourage, family and community. It pays homage to my colleagues friends and mentors. It’s a refreshing and tropical cocktail for all to enjoy with good company.”—Sabrina Mailhot, #4 Best Bartender

Our LGBT readers sure like to party. Once again, this section is rife with queer clubs and club nights (Best Club DJs in the Music section follows suit), and one particular LGBT-oriented bar — Notre Dame des Quilles — topped the Best Bar, Best Comedy Night and Best Bowling Alley (though no one really bowls there) categories, coming in at #2 Best Karaoke Bar for their ever-popular Lipster night. Good times.

Soon-to-be-legal marijuana dominates Best Drug (by over 1,000 votes!), but to the dozens of health nuts, old people and former addicts who whined about this category (by writing things like “this isn’t funny anymore”), oh please — it’s not a joke, honey. Just because you live in sober purgatory, don’t hold it against those who enjoy weed and the occasional line or psychedelic while they’re partying. Next time, skip the question and save the Morrissey quotes for Facebook or sad bathroom graffiti.

Best Bartender
1 Maclean Rouble (The Wiggle Room)
2 Pat Lalonde (Else’s)
3 Gern F. (Grumpy’s)
4 Sabrina Mailhot (Coldroom)
5 Marc St-Louis (Bar le Ritz PDB)
6 Rashta Kruger (John Doe/ComedyWorks)
7 Ram Krishnan (Grumpy’s)
8 Danny Rand (Maison Boulud)
9 Lenore Claire Herrem (Notre Dame des Quilles)
10 Vito Ciocca (Le Bremner)

Best Bar
1 Notre Dame des Quilles
2 Casa del Popolo
3 Grumpy’s
4 Else’s
5 Bar de Courcelle
6 Wiggle Room
7 Darling
8 Sparrow
9 McLeans
10 Vices & Versa

Best Sleazy Dive
1 Barfly
2 Grumpy’s
3 Bifteck
4 Snack N’ Blues
5 Brasserie Beaubien
6 Idée Fixe
7 Bar de Courcelle
8 Snack N Blues
9 Blue Dog
10 Bar la Remise

Best Wine Bar
1 Vin Papillon
2 Pullman
3 Loïc
4 Buvette Chez Simone
5 Rouge Gorge
6 Larry’s
7 Magdalena
8 Vin Mon Lapin
9 Femme Fontaine
10 Le Diplomate

Best Club
1 Datcha
2 Stereo
3 Unity
4 Sky
5 Bar le Ritz PDB
6 Nesta
7 Rouge
8 Apt 200
9 Blizzarts
10 Tokyo

Best Club Night
1 Glitter Bomb
2 LIP
3 MPU
4 Mess Around
5 Moonshine
6 Luvhaus
7 Cousins
8 Funké
9 Datcha Thursdays

Best Underground Venue
1 La Plante
2 Psychic City
3 Bog
4 Durocher lofts
5 Poisson Noir
6 Fattal
7 Plurrealityz
8 Tarot
9 Art Loft
10 Drones Club

Best Live Music Venue
1 M Telus (fka Metropolis)
2 Théâtre Corona Virgin Mobile
3 Divan Orange (RIP)
4 Casa del Popolo
5 La Sala Rossa
6 Théâtre Fairmount
7 Club Soda
8 Bar le Ritz PDB
9 L’Escogriffe
10 Katacombes

Best Promoter
1 Blue Skies Turn Black
2 Evenko
3 Greenland
4 Analogue Addiction
5 POP Montreal
6 Suoni per il Popolo
7 Frankie Teardrop
8 Rickey D
9 Hello Darlin
10 Extensive Enterprise

Best Strip Club
1 Chez Parée
2 Café Cleopatra
3 Amazones
4 Wanda’s
5 Kama Sutra
6 Downtown
7 Kingdom
8 Stock
9 Wiggle Room
10 Solid Gold

Notre Dame des Quilles, #1 Best Bar, #1 Best LGBT Bar/Club, #1 Best Bowling Alley

Best LGBT Bar/Club
1 Notre Dame des Quilles
2 Cabaret Mado
3 Sky
4 Unity
5 Renard
6 Le Stud
7 Bar le Ritz PDB
8 Cocktail
9 Stereo
10 Café Cleopatra (upstairs)

Best Burlesque Performer
1 Lavender May
2 Sugar Vixen
3 Audrey Ivory
4 Rosie Bourgeoisie
5 Tristan Ginger
6 Loulou la Duchesse
7 Lily Monroe
8 Célesta O’Lee
9 Elle Diablo
10 Lady Josephine

Best Drag Queen/King
1 Mado
2 Uma Gahd
3 Rainbow
4 Crystal Slippers
5 Rita Baga
6 Connie Lingua
7 Charli Deville
8 Lactatia
9 Tracy Trash
10 Barbada de Barbades

Best Pool Hall
1 Fats
2 Fitzroy
3 Mad Hatter
4 Bifteck
5 McLean’s
6 Forum de Montréal
7 Frappé
8 Idée Fixe
9 Scratch

Best Bowling Alley
1 Notre Dame des Quilles
2 Rose Bowl
3 Quilles G Plus
4 Darling
5 Forum de Montréal
6 Laurentian Lanes

Best Comedy Club
1 Comedy Nest
2 Bordel
3 Comedyworks
4 Wiggle Room
5 Montreal Improv
6 Psychic City
7 Blue Dog

“I remember finishing Hottest Montrealer top five or top six one time. I think I was behind Denis Coderre… I’m happy. I feel like it’s an ongoing love affair that’s lasted years. I’m glad I haven’t stayed out of touch because these are the cool people (voting).”—Sugar Sammy, #1 Best Comedian

Best Comedian
1 Sugar Sammy
2 Tranna Wintour
3 John St-Godard
4 Mike Ward
5 Katherine Levac
6 Joey Elias
7 Walter Lyng
8 Julien Lacroix
9 Nancy Webb
10 Ellie MacDonald

Best Comedy Night
1 Stand Back (Notre Dame des Quilles)
2 Voix de Ville (Wiggle Room)
3 Open mic (Bordel)
4 There’s Something Funny Going On (Blue Dog)
5 Belle Improv (ComedyWorks)
6 The Dropout! Show (ComedyWorks)
7 Brunch Club (various venues)
8 Squad Laughs (La Plante)
9 Comedy at the Art Loft (Art Loft)
10 Bishop & Gags (Bishop and Bagg)

Best Karaoke Bar
1 Pang Pang
2 Notre Dame des Quilles
3 Taverne Normandie
4 3 Minots
5 Club Date
6 Petite Place
7 Bar la Remise
8 Bar Zoé
9 Cocktail
10 Astral 2000

Best Film Screening Series
1 Cinéma Politica
2 Trannavision
3 Cinéclub Film Society
4 DeuXX
5 Cinéma 1999
6 Film Noir au Canal

Best Drug
1 Marijuana
2 MDMA/molly/ecstasy
3 Cocaine
4 LSD/acid
5 Mushrooms
6 Caffeine/coffee
7 Ketamine
8 Hash
9 Fentanyl

Best Drink
1 Beer
2 Gin and tonic
3 Old-fashioned
4 Whiskey (neat)
5 Rum and coke
6 Bloody caesar
7 Moscow mule
8 Dark and stormy
9 Negroni
10 Scotch (neat)

Best Cocktail Bar
1 Le Lab
2 Big in Japan Bar
3 Le Mal Nécessaire
4 Atwater Cocktail Club
5 Bar Kabinet
6 La Distillerie
7 Sparrow
8 Le 4e Mur
9 Snowbird Tiki Bar
10 Bootlegger l’Authentique

See the rest of the Best of MTL here:

* PEOPLE & PLACES
* MEDIA
* MUSIC
* FILM & ARTS
* GOODS & SERVICES
* FOOD & DRINK