This award-winning Tucson restaurant has opened a basement bar

Tyler Fenton knew from the start that he wanted to open some sort of bar component in the basement of his historic warehouse downtown.

But just like the plans for his upscale, globally-influenced restaurant Bata upstairs changed over time, so did ideas for the 1,000-square-foot basement.

Not long after opening Bata early last March, he struck on a concept: A European-style bar that serves a menu of 10 small plates with a curated selection of cocktails, wine and beers.

“It’s this fun, simple offshoot where we’re making this Spanish-style pan de cristal (a Spanish bread) and it gets used in two different dishes,” Fenton said early this week. “We have marinated olives that are smoked in the hearth upstairs and marinated chickpeas seasoned with a miso. It’s these little kind of winks to the menu upstairs but through this very simple, different lens. It’s still technically doing it the same way we would be cooking upstairs but presented very European, so very simply.”

Barbata, which opened on Nov. 19, is the fifth venture for Fenton and his siblings, Courtney and Zach. The family opened Reilly Craft Pizza & Drink in the historic Reilly Funeral Home building at 101 E. Pennington St. downtown in 2012. A year later, they opened a beer garden behind the pizzeria followed in January 2015 with the Tough Luck Club, a 61-seat cocktail lounge carved out of the basement that was once Reilly Funeral Home’s morgue.

Early this year, the family opened a second location of Reilly Pizza at 7262 N. Oracle Road on the northwest side.

Fenton said that while Tough Luck Club has more of a party scene vibe, Barbata is intended as a place where you grab a glass of wine or cocktail and a snack after work or while you wait for your upstairs dinner reservation. The bar can accommodate 45 people with seats for 25 and standing room for another 20.

On the day the bar opened, a customer stopped in for a drink and snack, then had dinner upstairs before returning to Barbata for a night cap and dessert, Fenton said.

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The bar’s opening comes on the heals of Bata being named in September to Bon Appétit’s list of the 50 Best New Restaurants in 2022. Bacanora in Phoenix also made the list.

Fenton said the Bon Appetit nod boosted business at the upscale restaurant, which appears to be defying the trend away from fine dining.

“The restaurant has been busy and looks to stay busy,” said Fenton, Bata’s chef-owner. “Forecasting and trends are always interesting because in my opinion, when times are tough, I see the casual restaurant gets hit the hardest. All restaurants get hit, but I believe people are going to be more willing to go out to have a special experience rather than something casual.”

Fenton said Bata has quickly become a destination for special event dining in Tucson.

“I don’t think we’ve had a single day that we have not had at least two celebrations, be it anniversary or birthday,” he said. “Our record is like 20.”

Barbata’s hours: 4:30 to 9 p.m. Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 4:30 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Bata is open at 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.