Alex Valencia / New York City, NY

Easy, Breezy

In the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the bartender who introduced Mexican mixology to New York has a new one-of-a-kind concept. Alex Valencia opened Vallarta Tropical in 2024 as the only restaurant on the Lower East Side serving authentic Mexican coastal cuisine and original Mexican Tiki drinks. Co-owned with two cousins Alex calls brothers — Rigoberto Cervantes and Rafael Cervantes — Vallarta Tropical has a fresh, vibrant menu inspired by its namesake resort city in the family’s home state of Jalisco.

Alex made his name working alongside the city’s top bartenders at the notable speakeasies Please Don’t Tell, Little Branch and Bathtub Gin. His first ventures, La Contenta LES and La Contenta Oeste (now owned by his original partner, Chef Luis Arce Mota) became known for a signature bar program of alt-agave Mexican spirits.

The thatched roof and tiled walls at Vallarta Tropical transport guests to a breezy, laid-back beach town where tacos de pescado, aquachile, and ceviche are typical fare. The popular Alchemy Monday Happy Hour promotes Agave & Aquachiles. Handcrafted cocktails feature traditional Mexican tepache, pulque, and The Perfect Purée’s fresh, true-to-fruit flavors. “I like the texture of The Perfect Purée, and we don’t want to change anything that’s working,” Alex says. “I have to have the best cocktails.”

Molecular Mixology

Vallarta Tropical perfects the art of molecular Mexican tiki cocktails, which Alex learned 15 years ago from his mentor, Junior Merino, the founder of neuveu mixology. “He was doing amazing things with molecular cocktails a long, long time ago,” Alex says. Decades later, the equipment and advanced techniques that were out of reach for a lot of bartenders have become more accessible. And drinkers have embraced the chemistry that intensifies the color and flavor of molecular cocktails. “Back then, it was too much and too new,” Alex says. “Now it’s just a different experience. A cocktail is about experience.”

Alex compares his molecular cocktail Mr. Manguito (“Little Mango”), to a mango michelada. It swaps beer for molecular bubbles and beer’s citrusy notes for The Perfect Purée’s citrus flavors. Edible coral tuile adds texture and bright tropical color. “For me, in a michelada, you get the bubbles. Molecular is like, ‘Wow, something different.’ If what we want in a beer is something citrusy to add body, we bring in citrus with lime.”

Alex’s signature micheladas are another feature of Vallarta’s drink menu. He’s been making variations on the classic with beer, lime, and hot sauce since 2008. Cherry has always been popular, and this summer he’s making blackberry and cranberry with The Perfect Purée. He dials the hot sauce and beer up and down to taste. “Mexicans love micheladas, but Americans really, really love micheladas,” he says, laughing. “They like sophisticated, different flavors.”

Alex combines the influence from his upbringing with two decades of meeting New Yorkers’ craving for novelty. “I know my ingredients from my background, but this is the thing — all my career as a bartender is over here. Basically, I know what people like to drink and especially in NYC, people love new things,” he says. “I use my nostalgia and my memories from Mexico, and I mix it with the flavors and the palates people like over here.”

User Tip: Lose the Booze

Alex, who’s been sober for seven years, says it’s important for every cocktail menu to have spirit-free options.  Micheladas in particular have cross-over appeal because non-alcoholic beer like Atlética Mexican lager-style doesn’t alter their flavor profile. “The trend is to have non-alcoholic drinks,” Alex says. “Our industry has a lot of good things, but there are a lot of problems with alcoholism. Some bartenders feel they can’t say no. My point is, have an option for all of us on the menu.”

Creativity and Community

Alex was born in Michoacán and grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city and the capital of Jalisco. He moved to New York City when he was 19 and started working in the service industry. In 2008, his talent and creativity caught on, and he became head bartender at the trendy Latin restaurant Yerba Buena, where he was part of the team that garnered accolades in The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, and more. In 2012, Alex helped open The Flatiron Room, developing its library of 1,000-plus whiskies and having one of his recipes published in “Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life” by Heather Greene.

Through it all, he’s maintained a can-do community spirit that inspires fellow immigrants to follow their dreams. “Everything is more expensive now, and people are not going out like before,” Alex says. “We are having struggles to be honest. But let me tell you something, there is always a way. Even though it’s difficult, it’s still possible, and we are doing something good. We are not doing something bad. The restaurant business will keep going because people want it, and we want to be the option. That’s why we try to get the best ingredients.”