Barra

Barra is a compact Union Square room at 23A Bow Street that imports the bar-and-dining culture of Mexico City rather than the Tex-Mex format most American Mexican restaurants default to. The kitchen's signature is the Aguachile Amarillo, an original recipe credited on the menu to chef Sofia Garcia Osorio, in which raw white fish is dressed in a passion fruit and serrano emulsion with orange supremes, cucumber and avocado. Around it sit tuna tostaditas, a tetela poblana — a triangular corn pocket stuffed with queso anejo and beans under house mole — enmoladas finished with a mole the menu says takes twenty-five ingredients and several days to build, birria, cochinita pibil marinated overnight in Yucatan achiote, and tacos on hand-pressed tortillas including the quesabirrias and the costra, a flank steak taco wrapped in a crust of cheese. The mezcal list runs past eighty expressions with flights chosen by the bartender. Boston.com covered the bar's alcohol-free work in its January 2025 Dry January round-up.

The non-alcoholic offering is printed on the same page as the cocktails under the heading Non-Alcoholic Mocktail, and it is structured as a permission rather than a fixed list: for $12 the bar will make spirit-free versions of the passion fruit mojito, the paloma, the chamango and anything from the frappe collection — which in full-strength form covers a mint lemonade, a guava colada and a tamarind spicy margarita — or build something to order. That matters because it means a non-drinker at Barra gets the same frozen, fruit-forward, chile-salted drinks the table is having rather than a soft drink. Notch non-alcoholic IPA is $7 and can be turned into a michelada for $5 more, which is a genuinely uncommon offer and one of the better alcohol-free options in the city for anyone who wants something savoury and salty rather than sweet. House aguas frescas are $6 in hibiscus or tamarind, and the soda list carries Coca-Cola Mexicana, Mineragua and ginger beer at $5. Barra opens at 5pm Tuesday through Sunday and is closed Mondays.