This hyped Mexican restaurant is open in Scottsdale. Meet the tattoo artist behind the bar

Ask any bartender in town where they got their tattoos and the answer is likely to be Miguel Mora.

"It's now one of those things where it's like, if you don't have a Miguel tat then you're not a real bartender," Mora said. "That's how everyone jokes around about it."

Often dressed in a black shirt, black hat, black jeans and black shoes, Mora is an artist in many disciplines. His tattooed hands hint at one as he talks animatedly about the other.

He splits his time between his two passions, ink and cocktails. After a brief hiatus, he's returning to the world of drinks in a big way, creating the cocktail menu for Call Her Martina, a highly anticipated new bar and restaurant opening soon in Scottsdale.

"I'm excited, I'm eager to show everyone what I've been working on," Mora said. "We have a lot of really fun stuff, fun presentations, like it's just going to be brand new to everyone, you know, we're going to steer away from the norm."

Parallel careers in tattoo parlors and cocktail bars

Mora's first love was tattooing, which he started practicing in high school, before he was legally old enough to get one himself.

"It was that show Miami Ink, I saw that on TV and I saw these guys tattoo and I was like 'That's sick; I want to do that,'" he said. "So I looked online and ordered a tattoo kit and I started practicing."

On his 18th birthday, Mora's sister took him to get his first tattoo. There, he asked the artist how people get started and they explained that young artists do an apprenticeship to learn the trade. As it turned out, that shop was looking for apprentices.

"My sister was like 'He'll do it. I'll go get his artwork.' So she went to my room, got all my drawings while I was getting tattooed and came back and like, kind of helped me get into it," Mora said.

He studied at AlleyKat Tattoo on Glendale and 48th avenues, which launched a career that took him to Chicago, California and Las Vegas.

Tattoo shops are really busy during tax return season, but slow before the holidays, he explained. So, over the years, Mora picked up bartending gigs to offset the slow seasons of tattooing.

In 2011, he set out to learn more about the art of bartending at Barrio Queen, where Phoenix cocktail expert Colton Brock showed him the ropes.

From there he got his first lead bartender position at the now closed Distrito in Scottsdale, where he worked closely with the chefs to learn how to match flavors and create syrups for drinks that would compliment food.

Over the years, he hopped from bar to bar across the Valley, moving up to bar manager and eventually training other bartenders.

Then, in 2020, the pandemic hit and bars closed down. All of Mora's bar work instantaneously vanished.

His other passion, however, remained an option. Tattoo shops were classified as salons, so they were able to stay open. Mora set aside bartending and doubled down on his tattooing career at Innovative Ink in Phoenix.

A new idea inspired an old passion

While Mora focused on tattooing throughout the pandemic, he kept his ties with the bartending industry through friends and clients. Maintaining those relationships is something he holds "in the highest regard," he said.

"It's one of those things where if you're industry, you're bumped to the top of the list, like, I'll get you in as soon as I can," Mora said. "And then it just kind of like organically grew into that whole thing of 'Oh, you want to get a tattoo? You've got to go see Miguel first.'"

Those continued connections helped draw Mora back into the world of bartending after the initial pandemic closures.

Abel Arriaga of Mezcal Carreno introduced him to a family with a new idea for a bar. Elisa Moreno, her siblings and father wanted Call Her Martina to be a cocktail-focused bar and restaurant that incorporated Mexican culture and flavors throughout the menu.

While he was interested, after taking an extended break from mixing drinks, Mora wanted to make sure he still had a talent for bartending. He hosted a pop-up event around the holidays called In the Lane for which he made all the syrups, did all of his own infusions and then batched cocktails for the event.

One showstopper was a coconut milk eggnog made with vanilla liqueur and topped with toasted marshmallow and rosemary. All three drinks he made for the menu nearly sold out, he said.

After that, his confidence in a skill he hadn't tested for nearly two years, was restored. He was ready to tackle a new project.

What is Call Her Martina?

"I think you're giving this cocktail bar like its own entire personality, which I think is awesome," he said of Call Her Martina, a new bar and restaurant opening soon in Old Town Scottsdale.

"It really feels like a place that you would happened upon if you were in Mexico. It definitely takes you away from where you are. It doesn't feel like you're at the Waterfront when you walk in."

The space itself is decorated with hand-painted tiles from Mexico, a large central tree, neon signs, black wrought iron and foliage.

"A lot of our stuff comes from Mexico. Like all of the decorations and some of the kitchen equipment is actually from Mexico," Mora said.

The chefs and kitchen staff will also be moving north for the restaurant, with head chef Yesenia Rios coming from Tijuana. Food is still in the works, but Mora said the concept will be drinks-focused, and for that, he's ready.

What's on the cocktail menu?

Mora created the entire cocktail menu around simple, refreshing flavors. Each drink, he said, will have three to four ingredients to allow each element to shine.

Syrups and liquor infusions will be made in house and the menu won't be focused on one spirit or one flavor, Mora said, as he doesn't want to limit the possibilities. Though the spirits are mostly from Central and South America, and include Charanda Uruapan, a Mexican rum, mezcal and gin.

The menu will feature eight signature cocktails and four classics, like margaritas and palomas. Each of the signature cocktails tell a story about one of the owners' travels, Mora said.

One cocktail Mora is excited about is called When She Went to Tulum, a refreshing coconut-infused mezcal cocktail. He worked with the siblings, testing different ingredients and flavors to recreate a drink they had enjoyed on the beach in Mexico.

Another cocktail he can't wait to serve is a drink he created at home for a friend, before it landed on the restaurant's official menu. Called the Paraiso, meaning paradise in Spanish, its made with Charanda Uruapan and passionfruit and served in a goblet-style glass.

Mora created the drinks menu for Call Her Martina, but he's not working as a bartender there. He plans to help get the team trained and help out as the restaurant finds its footing. After that, he's on to the next project, whether that involve cocktail ingredients or ink remains to be seen.

Call Her Martina opened on April 6.

Details: 7135 E. Camelback Road, #165, Scottsdale. callhermartina.com.

Reach the reporter at tirion.morris@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @tirionmorris, on Facebook at Tirion Rose and on Instagram at tirionrose.

Support local journalism and subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Call Her Martina is now open in Scottsdale. Meet the edgy bartender