Leroy’s Tacos n Beer is now open in RTP—delivering succulent dranks, vibes and tacos, natch.
Imagine if your childhood movie/toy room served up dank tacos and those Capri Suns were replaced with refreshing micheladas. … In essence, that’s what you get with Jake Wood’s Leroy’s Tacos n Beer, now open at Boxyard RTP. The ’90s-inspired bungalow—located two doors down from the pitmaster’s OG ’cue joint, Lawrence Barbecue, streams nostalgic TV shows as Wood and crew sling the juiciest, cheesiest birria tacos you’ll ever have the pleasure of devouring. While you can and should order up a round of those tacos that led Wood to open the space in the first place, the menu also boasts its own fair share of additional fare—plus rotating specials—that are worth a bite. Be sure to check Leroy’s Instagram before you head over—and get there early. @leroystacoshop
Smoked Brisket Birria Ramen
If you ever have the pleasure of showing up to Leroy’s when this flavor-party of a ramen is on the menu, do yourself a huge favor and order it.
Roasty Poblano Cheese Dip
We’ve never met a cheese dip we didn’t like, and this one is no exception. Get it with chips or pork rinds.
Tres Leches Cornbread
Don’t forget about dessert! “Tres leches for life” is the MO at Leroy’s—and it gets a Southern twist with the use of cornbread (!).
An ode to the smoked brisket birria tacos that nearly broke the internet whenever Wood announced they were on the menu on Lawrence’s Instagram (and brought in throngs of people eager to get their hands on one, though usually sold out after only a couple of hours and thus “got out of hand,” says Wood), Leroy’s Tacos n Beer—anticipated to open in January 2023—will be situated just two doors down from the hip Q spot, and underneath his other Lawrence Food Co. Hospitality Group concept, Lagoon Bar. A taco and BBQ (and cocktail!) have down the road at Boxyard? Um, sold.
In addition to Wood’s famed birria tacos—which he conceptualized via three or four different recipes from different regions in Mexico—Leroy’s small rotating menu will feature fun seasonal dishes using locally sourced ingredients. Expect chimichurri fried rice, roasty poblano cheese dip with fresh fried tortilla chips, stewed hominy, and “a really fun corn dog that’s kind of like street corn, except the vessel’s gonna be a corn dog as opposed to an ear of corn,” says Wood.
NC shrimp tacos and carne asada skirt steak tacos will be on the feature board more often than not, he adds, and the food will be complemented by a rotating selection of canned Mexican beers like Imperial, Pacifico, Tecate and Modelo—plus over-the-top micheladas, natch (spring for the Big Mich if you’re really feeling frisky!).
“We’re not trying to overthink it; we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel with tacos—clearly I’m a white dude,” says Wood. “There are folks within 5 miles of us cooking amazing tacos. We just wanna join; we’re not trying to compete with anybody. I just f*cking love tacos, and I wanna make them. I want folks to be able to come and get the birria tacos and not have to wait in line 30 minutes to be told it’s sold out.” (If it’s happened to you, you know how soul-crushing it is.)
Wood learned with Lawrence that a small menu works not only well for their setup at Boxyard, but for his team. “We’re able to pump an insane amount of volume through that place,” he says. “And that helps us pay our staff more and sustain the quality of life, which is most important because if [the staff] isn’t taken care of or can’t take care of themselves, we can’t as a team take care of anybody—our customers or anybody else.” And that includes family.
As a husband and father of two young children, Wood feels it’s really important that he doesn’t miss out on too much of his kids’ lives. “They grow so fast. I’m focused on something that’s, you know, supposed to benefit us—it’s supposed to put a roof over our heads, supposed to help them get into the college they want to get into when that time comes. So we’ve had to really balance it. And it’s been tough.”
Case in point, Lawrence Barbecue is closed on Sundays and Mondays, and the shop closes early on Tuesdays, giving the team two-and-a-half days off. Wood says his staff is also paid well above industry standards—“we’ve got a whole-house tip pool, from [Lagoon Bar] to the restaurant,” he adds.
When Leroy’s opens, he’ll stick to the same schedule while staying focused on “doing the best we can for the customers who line up for us out there, and just kind of trying to continue to take care of ourselves.”
And even though the Lawrence Barbecue team moved fast with this first expansion, Wood says that “if we have to grow slower and a little bit more organically then that’s fine with us—we just want to make sure that it’s sustainable. Because the most important thing to me is that, with this vision, it remains a sustainable vision and business for many years to come.” @leroystacoshop
An ode to the smoked brisket birria tacos that nearly broke the internet whenever Wood announced they were on the menu on Lawrence’s Instagram (and brought in throngs of people eager to get their hands on one, though usually sold out after only a couple of hours and thus “got out of hand,” says Wood), Leroy’s Tacos n Beer—anticipated to open in January 2023—will be situated just two doors down from the hip Q spot, and underneath his other Lawrence Food Co. Hospitality Group concept, Lagoon Bar. A taco and BBQ (and cocktail!) down the road at Boxyard? Um, sold.
In addition to Wood’s famed birria tacos—which he conceptualized using three or four different recipes from different regions in Mexico—Leroy’s small rotating menu will feature fun seasonal dishes using locally sourced ingredients. Expect chimichurri fried rice, roasty poblano cheese dip with fresh fried tortilla chips, segmented grapefruit and avocado salad, and “a really fun corn dog that’s kind of like street corn, except the vessel’s gonna be a corn dog as opposed to an ear of corn,” says Wood.
NC shrimp tacos and carne asada skirt steak tacos will be on the feature board more often than not, he adds, and the food will be complemented by a rotating selection of canned Mexican beers like Imperial, Pacifico, Tecate and Modelo—plus over-the-top micheladas, natch.
“We’re not trying to overthink it; we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel with tacos—clearly I’m a white dude,” says Wood. “There are folks within 5 miles of us cooking amazing tacos. We just wanna join; we’re not trying to compete with anybody. I just f*cking love tacos, and I wanna make them. I want folks to be able to come and get the birria tacos and not have to wait in line 30 minutes to be told it’s sold out.” (If it’s happened to you, you know how soul-crushing it is.)
While Wood says expansion this soon after launching Lawrence wasn’t originally in the cards for him or his team, the opportunity to open a new spot at the former Carrburritos space was just too good to pass up. “It just made so much sense that we could expand our footprint there at Boxyard,” he explains. “They’re great folks to work with. We’ve had success since we’ve opened out there, and we just wanna build on that there with a lower overhead entry point.”
NTM that the area is only going to continue to grow, what with the new Hub RTP project, an Apple campus coming, and talks of Google and Nike as well. “We’d like to be there and grow as RTP grows,” says Wood. “I feel like it’s kind of RTP’s time to shine over the next five, six, 10 years—whatever it may be as they grow in that area. Looking back, I think we made the right decision by coming out there and taking a chance with Lawrence.” Those birria tacos surely seemed to prove that.
He adds: “We’re staying in this fun vein that we’re in with Lawrence. We’re not taking anything too seriously other than the food, and just really staying hyperfocused on that. I’m looking forward to it. I love making tacos—I could stand over a flat top and fold birria tacos for 12 hours straight. It’s just fun.” So, in the words of Wood, “Come on over, eff around, and find out.”
