Desnuda Cocina & Bar Brings Music and Vibes to Tremont Street

The lower level of Desnuda Cocina & Bar. / Photo by Michael Diskin

Music lovers have an all-new spot to sip, dine, and listen with the recent opening of Desnuda Cocina & Bar in Boston’s South End. It’s the latest addition to the trend of “listening lounges”—bars that emphasize audiophile-worthy sound systems and soundtracks—sweeping the city. (Another recent example, Spy Bar, is just a half mile away inside the Revolution Hotel.)

The lower level of Desnuda Cocina & Bar. / Photo by Michael Diskin

Desnuda seems worlds apart from its Mazí Food Group big siblings—Best of Boston Greek restaurant Kava Neo-Taverna, Eastern Mediterranean destination Ilona, and Italian hot spot Gigi’s. (The team also has something in the works in the former Butcher Shop space.) “Every time we do a new project, we need to get out of the box and reinvent ourselves,” says Irakli Gogitidze, who owns the Mazí restaurants with George Axiotis and Jesus Preciado. For this new venture, they’re taking a multi-pronged approach.

The street-level space at Desnuda Cocina & Bar. / Photo by Michael Diskin

The bilevel Tremont Street space—most recently home to Whaling in Oklahoma, and Tremont 647 for a long time before that—is intricately decorated at street level, with candelabras, chandeliers, and a mirror-backed bar setting the scene for craft cocktails and bar bites. Downstairs, the wood-paneled basement space draws inspiration from 1950s-era Japanese sound bars. Framed albums line the walls, the speakers behind the bar are vintage, and the ceiling is an acoustic panel. The room—embellished with a retro-lounge giraffe-print banquette—is designed to keep warm, crackling sounds reverberating throughout. “We’re old enough that we grew up with vinyl,” Gogitidze says. “I was always into [records], and now here we are.”

The lower level of Desnuda Cocina & Bar. / Photo by Michael Diskin

While the sound bar is sure to keep musically inclined patrons happy with its curated playlists, theme nights, and guest DJs, Gogitidze, Axiotis, and Preciado run a restaurant group, after all, so the food and drinks are no afterthoughts here. That’s where Preciado’s culinary skills come in. The Colombian-born cook worked with Gogitidze and Axiotis on Puro Ceviche before they sold it a few years ago.

The Amarillo Passion cocktail at Desnuda Cocina & Bar. / Photo by Armani Thao

“At this point we’re more like a family,” Preciado says. He’s been cooking since he was 21, and with Desnuda he has a new opportunity to bring Latin-Asian influences to the group’s typically Mediterranean-focused slate of restaurants. Sushi rolls, tacos, and bao buns are on the menu, along with some Peruvian cuisine, such as ceviche and lomo saltado. Preciado is planning to introduce his own spin on the latter, a beef stir-fry, creating a more sauce-heavy version than the original. The team is also rolling out a slate of Japanese-inspired cocktails, sourced with regional gins, whiskeys, and bourbons.

The Beet the Heat cocktail at Desnuda Cocina & Bar. / Photo by Armani Thao

While the food and drink menus delve into different regions than what Gogitidze, Axiotis, and Preciado are used to exploring at their other restaurants, they have no shortage of confidence, and Desnuda is poised to give the South End a swanky new night-out destination.

The lower level of Desnuda Cocina & Bar. / Photo by Michael Diskin

“It’ll taste amazing, and it’ll also sound amazing,” says Axiotis. “We can’t wait to not only see date nights and families, but people who appreciate music, cocktails and the quality of sound.”

The lower level of Desnuda Cocina & Bar. / Photo by Michael Diskin

Desnuda opens daily at 4 p.m.; stay tuned for the launch of weekend brunch service. 647 Tremont St., South End, Boston, desnudacocina.com.