The Oyster Bay Town Board approved an expansion for Dirty Taco + Tequila in Woodbury that would nearly double the size of the Mexican-Asian fusion restaurant.
The town board voted 7-0 on Monday to allow the 2,040-square-foot eatery in the Woodbury Shopping Center to expand by an additional 1,500 square feet using an adjacent vacant lot.
The site is not expected to close during the expansion, Bram Weber, an attorney for the proposal, said Tuesday in a phone interview. He said he anticipates the construction will begin this year.
“Other than the building permit, this is the final approval,” Weber said.
During a town board meeting on Dec. 9, Weber said the restaurant had “outgrown the space” since it succeeded Onsen Sushi, which exited the shopping center in 2019.
The proposal had to go before the town board because the extension would allow the restaurant to exceed an occupancy of 75 people. He said the business will use some of the extra square footage to expand its kitchen.
There are Dirty Taco + Tequilas in Wantagh, Patchogue, Smithtown, Port Washington and Rockville Centre, drawing consistent crowds across Long Island. The menu offers a mix of Mexican and Asian cuisine, from Mexi mac and cheese to kung pao dumplings.
