Oz Tacos and Tequila
I f the Elkhay brand means anything , it ’ s a hyperbolic sense of reality . Why serve a simple burger when you can pair it with a liquored-up milkshake that ’ s loaded with Mississippi mudpie , chocolate chip cookies and toasted marshmallows ? Why serve a steak with mashed spuds when you can cram in more sticks of butter than actual potatoes ? And , most recently , why offer street tacos when you can stuff tortillas with everything under the sun and do it at a tequila bar that ’ s forty-plus varieties deep ?
This is the Elkhay approach : Up the ante on everything and get buzzed doing it . Sometimes it ’ s fine wine , other venues call for beer , but in the land of Oz Tacos , tequila rules in dramatic form . With so many options — some lit up in neon green like the manna of Emerald City — Oz prioritizes the party . The restaurant resides in an unremarkable strip mall but , inside , golden tiles climb up one wall , while another declares in red neon that “ we ’ re not in Mexico anymore .” It would be possible to go the shots and straightforward taco route — but not here . Drinks are poured over cotton candy or mixed with Chinese five spice because everything in Oz is doled out like goody bags at the neighborhood ’ s best birthday party .
It ’ s viable to drink your way through dinner , from blanco to resposado to mezcal , but everything on the menu can be downed in three bites and manages to be both bar food and a Happy Meal at the same time . That ’ s just the nature of tacos . Oz , however , is also a decidedly international snack shop . Guacamole is laced with Asian sesame ($ 8 ) and empanadas ($ 6 ) are served Big Mac style : stuffed with meat and cheese and paired with pickles and special sauce . ( If you ’ ve considered McDonald ’ s the pinnacle of American fast food , think about what it would be if you started deep-frying the entire menu . That ’ s the Oz outlook .)
But it ’ s what goes into the corn tortillas that epitomizes the hybrid hedonism . Battered cod and braised chicken pibil are closest to authentic , punctuated with crunchy slaw and screaming for a Dos Equis . But all hail the mash-up because you can also stuff a Reuben taco — pastrami , swiss , sauerkraut , Russian dressing — into your face , knowing that only your Bubbi would approve . Beef bulgogi , bang-bang shrimp and chicken satay ($ 3.50 –$ 4.50 ) all take turns riffing on traditional Mexican fare , entirely confident that divergence is the sincerest form of flattery .
If there ’ s a way to categorize all — or any — of the Elkhay endeavors , it ’ s to accept the American audacity to be anything to everyone . Why not pay homage to the Far East and to Latin America with a Vietnamese dos leches cake ($ 6 )? Why not hypnotize an evening with mezcal , tamarind and poppy seeds ? In Oz , all roads point to the promised land , one technicolor taco at a time . �
OZ TACOS AND TEQUILA
200 Front St ., Lincoln , 475-4017 , oztacostequila . com .
Open Tues .– Sat . for lunch and dinner . Lot parking .
MUST GET Empanadas , tacos and tequila in any form .
86 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l NOVEMBER 2021