When one thinks about the Venice boardwalk, sobriety isn’t usually the first word to come to mind. But a breezy, fun sober space is rocking just a block away from the beach, with plans to stay for the summer at the crossroads of Brooks and Pacific Avenue.
At Bar Nuda, a DJ’s música tropical beats circle through the air as plates of pollo verde-loaded nachos and sushi-grade ahi tostadas are passed to tables of lively guests, sipping on zero-proof cempasuchil carajillos, mock margaritas, and chrysanthemum-based, non-alcoholic wine that gets fermented in the Kunlun Mountain snow.
Bar Nuda comes from Pablo Murillo and Morris Ellis, who together launched the Aguas Locas brand of healthier aguas frescas during the pandemic, using an unemployment check Murillo, formerly a manager at Venice’s Rose Cafe, had received amid the forced shutdown of restaurants.
The duo launched Bar Nuda in Venice two years ago with bartender Bryant J. Orozco, setting up in different neighborhoods and locations. This summer, they’ll be opening Nuda Wednesdays through Fridays in the evening in the Shepard Fairey-and-surf book-scattered space of Little Lunch, a cafe by day in Venice.