Bar Tulix NYC Brings New Ideas And Dashing Decor To Soho

The reason that so many ethnic restaurants in America have such similar menus is because they have become sheer comfort food, not least in Mexican restaurants where you’re as likely to find burritos, quesadillas and nachos at Taco Bell as at an upscale restaurant with a décor of serapes, sombreros and Día de los Muertos puppets. Indeed, Tex-Mex fare is far more widely served in America than regional Mexican food. There tends to be more variety in Southwestern cities like Phoenix, Santa Fe and Tucson, but 21^stcentury Mexican food is still rare.

Thank goodness, then, for the new Bar Tulix NYC, which opened on the edge of Soho last year, describing its cuisine as “coastal Mexican,” serving far more seafood than fish tacos. It’s an enterprise by chef Justin Bazdarich (of Oxomoco in Greenpoint and Speedy Romeo in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn) and restaurateur John McDonald of Mercer Street Hospitality (Lure Fishbar, Bowery Meat Company, and Hancock St.). Their experience in attracting a clientele begins with terrific design in a 65-seat dining area with a colorful bar that glistens with shelves of liquors that include an impressive number of tequilas, mezcals and sotols.

As you can imagine there are several takes on the margarita. (Putting “Bar” in the restaurant’s name was not an idle decision.) Polished tile walls, rose-colored floor, hanging orange lamps that throw convivial light, dark green booths, highly colored banquettes and tall windows with a display of recycled amber wine bottles hasn’t a decorous cliché to be seen. (There’s one prime booth that allows in an uncomfortable draft of winter cold.) The night I visited the place was more than half full but not that noisy, excepting some unwarranted piped-in music. Unlike the dark and deafening Cosme, you can have a good night out at Bar Tulix without shouting. The very affable G-M Thomas McCumber does everything he can to make guests feel comfortable.

The menu by Justin Bazdarich and Chef de cuisine Asia Shabazz shows the kind of regionalism rare elsewhere and presents it all with color and flourish but no pretense. The salsa trio with crisp tostados contains habanero, guajillo and salsa cruda ($12) gets you off on a spicy route. Tuna tostaditos are dressed with mayonnaise blended with chintesle, a condiment of smoked pasilla Oaxaca chilies, seeds and dried shrimp as made in Mixes, with avocado, radish and hibiscus ($22). A mix of raw seafood ceviche is prettily plated with avocado, rounds of cucumber, grilled pineapple and radish ($25). The Baja-style guacamole with salsa verde, serrano peppers and epazote oil ( $17) gains nothing by adding flavorless microgreens; it may well be that traditional guac cannot be improved upon.

Octopus is grilled to a savory crispiness with a dusting of paprika and served with red Lentils, roasted red peppers and creamy hazelnut-studded romesco ($26). Vegetable lovers will be very happy with the agave-roasted delicata squash with pepita pumpkin seed gremolata ($25), and Tulix’s nod to seafood shows up splendidly in succulent branzino that’s encrusted with masa meal, enhanced with a bouquet of herbs, and served in soft tacos with chipotle pepper, cucumber slaw and greens ($31).

Generous indeed is the boneless half chicken al pastor wth tangy-sweet pineapple jam, a counterpoint of salsa guajillo, cilantro and corn tortillas, which, at $29, is a bargain. So is cochinita pibil of juicy roast pork suffused with flavors of pickled red onion, cilantro and habanero salsa at $34. Another of the heartier dishes here is the braised short rib with black beans, shishito peppers and the nutty Veracruz-style salsa macha, with flour tortillas ($42).

Queso fundito ($25) was pricy and a bit bland, despite its inclusion of chorizo peppers. A side of crisp red rice ($9) was delicious, dressed with guajillo and scallions.

We had a little room left for two desserts: A chocolate cake ($15) was a rich success, the tres leches, though moist, lacked the caramel richness I’d expected ($12).

Bar Tulix appends “NYC” to its name, too, which suggests there might be others to open in New York or elsewhere—they have Lure Fishbars in Chicago and Miami—and I can imagine they will be welcomed by anyone anywhere who may still cherish old-fashioned guac but who will be enticed and excited by the uniquenss of the food here.

BAR TULIX NYC

25 West Houston Street

212-334-7320