On any given day that you happen to be in downtown Mobile, Alabama and have a craving for beer, sushi and/or tacos, the OK Bicycle Shop and Dauphin Street Taqueria should be your absolute first choice. This past Sunday, we decided to begin our reviews of Mobile, Alabama food at this lovely establishment. Since the OK Bicycle Shop is open every day from 11AM until 3AM (and serving food until at least 2AM), we were more than happy to grab a bite of Mexican and Japanese in the same sitting. I believe a recent episode of Louie called this a “Bang, Bang”, except here you can stay in the same restaurant. And yes, they sell bicycles (and deliver on them) too.
We’re sure the OK Bicycle Shop has some awesome beers (16 on tap) and margaritas (7 different house made ones to be exact), but this visit we were here strictly for the food. We started out with Chips & Queso Fundido but decided to mix it up a bit and go half-and-half on the dip and add the Salsa Chipotle. Ask your server and they’ll be more than happy to do this. The appetizer alone is extremely filling and probably great with an IPA. This queso with a kick is a melted white cheese with chorizo, roasted red peppers and onions. We noted it as warm and creamy with a twist. The Salsa Chipotle was the perfect amount of sweet and heat. Visually the dish we were served looked like it would be hot, but it is served cold. It had the perfect balance of spice with the heat just tickling the back of the throat.
Sampling an appetizer from the Liquid Lounge side, we decided to have the Calamari Salad – which is marinated squid with herbs. Out of all of the dishes we ate in this sitting, this was the only one we knew that could be easily replicated elsewhere. A very sizable amount of food compared to other sushi restaurants though. Served cold.
It didn’t take long to get our food and our drinks stayed full too. From the Dauphin Street Taqueria side, we ordered the Crispy Fish, the Beef, the Pork and the Mushroom Tacos. Each is an adventure for your mouth. The Mushroom Taco was tasty, but not spicy, mushrooms marinated and cooked perfectly. The pico combined with the goat cheese creates a smooth flavor. The Pork Taco, which is marinated in cumin and slow roasted topped with cabbage and pickled red onion, all we can say is “wow.” This was a flavor explosion of sweet, sour and tangy. The Beef Taco was probably our least favorite of the four we had as the salsa was a little overpowering and it made the taco a little watery. Visually, it wasn’t that appealing either. The Crispy Fish Taco on the other hand was excellent. It’s a masa-crusted white fish topped with avocado cream, cabbage and pico. The fry on the fish was perfect too – not greasy and just the right amount of batter.
We end our food journey at the OK Bicycle Shop with a dish from Liquid Lounge – the Bayou Roll. The Bayou is one of three tempura five-cut rolls and is listed as a Crawfish roll with cucumber, cream cheese and red curry sauce. This was the roll that brought us back. It has an extremely peculiar and addicting flavor along with a perfect tempura fry. Very creative and very tasty.
For under $50 plus a good tip, a Mexican/Japanese dining experience like this is a must-do if you’re in the area. If you visit in the evening, there’s a good chance you’ll be visiting when there’s some local musicians playing in the courtyard. Parking is available either in one of the many surrounding parking lots or on the street. Stop by and you won’t be disappointed.
Here are some photos we took of the delicious food from the Dauphin Street Taqueria and Liquid Lounge.
Provided below are menus from the OK Bicycle Shop, the Dauphin Street Taqueria and Liquid Lounge.
We give this visit an overall 8.5/10 score. The OK Bicycle Shop is a “must visit again.”
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