Tex Mex Bar and Grill will bring regional Texas cuisine with a Latin twist to Midtown when it opens late this month.

The restaurant will open at 2326 J St., tentatively on April 27, in a renovated space vacated by Toreros but long occupied by Taco Loco. Mike Keolanui, Michael Mui, Ben Paulsen and Thien Nguyen are opening the upscale-rustic Tex Mex as a little sister to Keolanui's Texas Mexican Restaurant, which has operated at 1114 8th St. for 18 years. The restaurant was owned by his wife's family for most of that time.

"Tex Mex" was coined as a culinary term in the 1960s or '70s. The name was taken from the TexMex Railway, used for decades by people who migrated from Mexico. They had to cook with ingredients that were available in Texas, and a cuisine was born, said 40-year-old Keolanui, who also is getting ready to open the El Dorado Saloon in El Dorado Hills on June 15.

A lot of people may be surprised to learn how healthy Tex Mex food can be, he added.

"It's gotten kind of a bad rap," Keolanui said. "They think of nachos with cheese. We've taken it back a step to the original recipes (used in regional Texas cooking) and kind of infusing a Latin influence into it."

The menu will differ from Texas Mexican Restaurant, where the staples are tacos, burritos and enchiladas. That restaurant was opened by Keolanui's future in-laws after the family moved from Mexico to Texas. They raised their children there and relocated to Sacramento. Griselda Barajas, now Keolanui's wife, moved here from Houston to help with the restaurant. She owns Griselda's Catering and Tex Mex @ the Capitol, in the building's basement.

Keolanui once owned a Chevys Fresh Mex franchise in downstate Illinois. He met Barajas after returning to Sacramento, then used his corporate background to help her and Texas Mexican Restaurant.

Texas Mexican closed in 2006 during an eminent domain battle between the city of Sacramento and developer Mohammed "Moe" Mohanna. Keolanui reopened it a year later, expanding into neighboring spaces to push the restaurant from 1,400 square feet to 6,000. He now leases the space from the city.

Tex Mex will feature Texas-style cuisine prepared fresh daily from scratch using local ingredients — organic when possible — and grilled foods, including seafood, rib eye steaks and chicken. Appetizers will include "man nachos" — tortilla chips topped with a slab of flank steak or chicken. Hours will be 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

"I'm not trying to hit the late-night thing," Keolanui said. "We'd rather be known as a place where you can come at 5 and get a drink, and have dinner."

The owners are considering holding a grand opening party on Cinco de Mayo, May 5.

The space is being renovated for a rustic ambience with hip and sexy modern touches, he said. Its mostly brick walls have been restored and wooden rafters exposed in the ceiling. Flat TV screens and a tequila "tower" created with more than 150 brands are being installed behind a lighted bar built from recycled beer bottles. The 125-seat restaurant will have as many as 10 TVs.

Keolanui didn't disclose the remodel's cost. Owners can spend beaucoup bucks to renovate a restaurant or nightclub, but that doesn't guarantee success, he said.

"If you put out a good product and good service, and you stay in touch with the community, I think you can have a good shot at it," Keolanui said. "It ain't gonna look like Taco Loco, I can tell you that."