Tacos with Southern fried chicken, quesadillas with pimento cheese — this must be fusion!
Hungry for fusion? Stop by Osito’s Tacos & Tortas, where a chef rocking a trucker hat, overalls and a Southern accent is inside serving up Mexican food with a Southern twist. You’re not going to want to miss this restaurant in Lake Norman, and once you discover it, you’ll be back.
Osito’s opened in June 2020, in the former location of El Paraiso Latin cuisine. It’s in a small strip mall along NC-115 in Cornelius — a quaint row of shops that feel like they belong on Pawley’s Island or somewhere else along the Carolina coast.
The menu includes:
- Quesadillas with a pimento cheese add-on,
- “Fry-chos” (french fries served nacho style piled with queso, beans, crema, etc.),
- The Osito tacos, with pickle-brined Southern fried chicken, collard slaw and more.
Keep your eyes out for other Southern ingredients such as black eyed peas, okra, fried green tomatoes and more.
Owner Bobby Davis was born in the South. He worked at Mexican restaurants in Charlotte, and he’s traveled to Mexico to eat and work in restaurants there to learn via culinary adventures.
“I took my Southern ingredients, put it with Mexican food. ... We want to do something different, something you’re not going to get anywhere else,” Davis told CharlotteFive. “We call it Mexican inspired and Southern rooted.”
Regular customers assure us that they visit not just because Osito’s is close or convenient, but also because it’s just good.
“Everybody’s great. They know my order by heart. It’s a really good neighborhood spot — but the food is good! You got a neighborhood spot and the food is good? ... 10 out of 10,” said Simone El Bey.
“It’s been a great ride so far. We opened in the middle of June 2020, in covid, and without the community around here and the guys supporting us, we probably wouldn’t have made it,” Davis said.
Watch the video ⬆️ from Alex Cason to learn more about this special place.
Osito’s Tacos & Tortas
Location: 20700 N Main St, Cornelius, NC 28031
Cuisine: Southern, Mexican fusion
Instagram: @ositos_tacosandtortas
This story was originally published December 6, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
