Oz Tacos & Tequila
"Oz noun. An ideal or fantastical place. An amiable blend of foolishness, innocence and freshness Where tacos without borders are served."
It's true there's no place like home. But if you're experiencing a wicked snack attack, there's no place like Oz Tacos and Tequila.
Located in Lincoln, Rhode Island, Oz Tacos and Tequila is a bright vibrant spot, with a fun patio to greet you a warm, cheery dining room and a cool bar shaking up creative cocktails. And while you don't need to follow a yellow brick road to get there, you will discover some familiar faces on the walls when you arrive.
“We have some really cool murals. You can see. Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and The Lion, We also have a tornado. There's tacos coming out of the tornado. Really cool. So there's a lot of subtle references to the Wizard of Oz. But we're not exactly a Wizard of Oz theme restaurant."
What they ARE is a restaurant that serves globally inspired tacos and the man behind the curtain, or in this case, behind the stove, is Executive Chef Andy Pyle.
"We're a scratch kitchen. And we just have fun with tacos. We take inspiration from places we've been, our travels, and we do anywhere from a little bit of Mexican, the Caribbean, Korean, Jaapanese, Chinese, you name it. We'll do it here."
The menu here reads like a taco world tour with flavors from all around the globe.
"The phrase Toto you're not in Mexico anymore really kind of sums up what we do here. Tacos as everyone knows is a Mexican food item, but what we do here is we just do little spins. We have the American version, which is a hot pastrami taco, complete with Russian dressing, sauerkraut and house pickled mustard seeds. We also take some influence from Korea, where we do the grilled marinated beef bulgogi taco, which is hand chopped sirloin steak that we marinate with ginger, soy and garlic. We also have the Mojo pork taco, which is pork shoulder that is slow cooked and then served with a Peruvian sauce called ahi verde and house pickled Fresno chili. Another taco is the Bang Bang shrimp, which is Thai influenced crispy fried shrimp with a sweet chili sauce and crispy shallots”.
Other creative tacos here include a Thai Chicken Satay with peanut sauce and shredded papaya salad, a Baja Fish taco topped with cabbage, red onion and a chipotle mayo and if you're keeping it vegetarian, try the Caulifalafel.
"The Caulifalafel taco is a play on a falafel wrap. We fry our cauliflower, and then it gets topped with a garlic tahini sauce and parsley and lemon and cucumber and fresh tomato. It tastes like a falafel wrap. But it's made with cauliflower and it's on a taco."
And if you’re really ready for an over the top taco party, bring your appetite and order the Around the World Platter, featuring every taco on the menu.
"People come in from all over just to try the Around the World. It’s about a two and a half foot tray full of all eight of our tacos. So it's just a way to kind of experience all the flavors and all the things that we're doing here at Oz in one platter."
Beyond tacos, there are plenty more dishes to enjoy at Oz and they all keep the global theme going.
“One of my favorite things is Korean fried chicken. So we decided to do Korean fried ribs instead. We fry those nice and crispy and then they get tossed in a spicy gochujhong barbecue sauce with garlic and ginger. We drizzle that with honey. So its just kind of the sweet, the sour, and the salty in one bite. For some latin flavor, there are twice-fried Tostones, served with a spicy aji verde sauce. And a colorfully creative spin on Mexican Street Corn.
“The Rainbow Esquites. Esquites is Mexican street corn served in a cup, and we're just doing our version. We top that with Flaming Hot Cheetos, we do blue tortilla chips, and we do our house tortilla chips as well, all crumbled on top with some cotija cheese. It’s beautiful to look at and it's just a fun appetizer that kind of really sums up what Oz is all about.”
Other apps include hand cut chips served with salsa and guac. Poppable Charred Shishito Peppers presented alongside Kewpie mayo. And piping hot cheeseburger empanadas.
"We make a cheeseburger filling with beef, carmelized onions, and chopped pickles and then we melt down American cheese into that so it becomes this gooey, meaty mess. And that gets stuffed into our empanada shells, fried to order, and then we garnish that with some shredded lettuce, pickles and our burger sauce. It really does taste like a cheeseburger."
And before you click your heels and head home, you have to treat yourself to a sweet like the bruleed coconut rice pudding or the Vietnamese Dos Leches Cake.
“We make a chocolate infused cold brew that we dunk our housemade chocolate cake into. We drizzle that with sweetened condensed milk, topped with a dulce de leche whipped cream, and then Turkish cotton candy which looks like the tornado. So it kind of brings it all back. And you can also add a shot at Bally's to that if you want to make that adult. It's delicious. It's decadent. And it's a great dessert.”
And while there may be no place like home- if you're looking for some tasty tacos and more, there's really no place like Oz.
“It's just a fun place. That's unexpected. A restaurant that you've never seen anything like. It's unique, and it's just a fun place to be.”
