In 2008, Santos opened the winebar, Bacaro in an adjacent neighborhood to his alma mater the University of So. California. It was inspired by a visit to Venice, Italy where Santos was impressed with the region’s wine culture. Since then, he started another winebar in downtown L. A. called Mignon in 2010, a bistronomique-inspired restaurant in Hollywood called Papilles in 2011 and a fine dining seafood restaurant in Pasadena called Lost At Sea in 2016. Santos was motivated to get into the hospitality business by his love of wine and his desire to spread his enthusiasm gleaned from stints in retail wine sales at Silver Lake Wine and as a sommelier at the legendary A.O.C. in West Hollywood. Here, I ask Santos about his origin story and how his businesses came about. With great candor, he shares his thoughts and preferences about providing wine to the public and why, ironically, he does not think of L.A. as a wine city.