Well known as a bar-hopping and date destination with late night dining on weekends, its remaining hours find South Point catering to local professionals and families. Lunch specials start at $5.99 for the former, and for the latter, a kid’s menu features healthy plates of familiar favorites with a personal touch. "Our macaroni and cheese is homemade, as is the spaghetti with red sauce. We can serve entrees with salad instead of fries for the health-conscious and have a lean chicken breast with broccoli, too. We don’t want to feed junk food," Gil said. Ingredients are delivered to South Point daily, including all of their prime and choice meats.

Every meal starts with a bowl of chimichurri ensconced in a basket of warm bread. It’s not the traditional way of serving Argentina’s version of salsa made with olive oil, chili pepper flakes, garlic, and parsley, Gil said, but it’s catching on. "It’s funny, at home we would have chimichurri with chicken and steaks, never with bread. But it’s really good together," Gil said. "One girl liked the chimichurri so much, she ate it with a spoon."

At the octagon-shaped bar, a menu of exotic specialty drinks awaits: Rumrita (Cruzan rum with lime juice, simple syrup, and orange juice), caipirinha (Chacaca sugar cane liqueor, lime juice, and simple syrup), gancia con limon (vermouth on the rocks with lemon juice and soda water), and the house specialty, sangria, a potent concoction of red wine, orange and lemon juices, topped with lemon lime soda. Desserts are just as unique, including the to-die-for panqueques dulce de leche, crisp Argentine crepes filled with caramel, then drizzled with chocolate (voted the second best dessert in Santa Clarita by The Signal).

"It was a risk, but we’ve had a very good response," Gil said of South Point’s concept. "There’s a wait on weekends and people are using us for holiday parties or personal occasions. We’re proud of that, to be considered for special events. Everyone’s a guest here, not a customer."

Yvonne Tally makes a mean sangria