Ricos Tacos at The Norfolk Hotel To Close

Toby Wilson is known for the tacos he’s sent out on bright plastic plates across the many iterations of Ricos Tacos. His taqueria’s most recent home was Redfern’s 100-year-old corner pub The Norfolk, a move which marked the chef joining Public Hospitality. Jon Adgemis’s group had a spectacular fall, which for Wilson, culminated in his taco shop being operated by Solotel and Wilson appointed group chef. Now, two and half years later, Wilson and his tacos are moving out.

“The idea behind moving in with Public three years ago was to have access to the resources to grow it into what we wanted to grow it into,” Wilson says, referencing the plan to open more outposts and a taco truck. “That obviously hasn’t eventuated for a multitude of reasons – mostly the demise of Public. It’s a little bit disappointing that that wasn’t fruitful, but I’m also very much looking forward to a clean slate – getting to start again more independently.”

Ricos Tacos will close in late February, with Wilson retaining the intellectual property and trademark of his taqueria. “It’s been tricky with groups for the last three years,” he says. “I came from a background with Ricos where it was very much founder-led. I was doing the social media, I was picking the music, I was picking the drinks, I was cooking. I had total control over everything. Then, as is necessary in a group, that gets spread out – and it feels like the vision gets diluted. I found that pretty difficult.”

New to the freelance world, Wilson is focusing on the creative stuff: restaurant, pub and cafe consulting work for new and existing projects, plus recipe development (for venues, media and brands) and his social media antics. There won’t be another bricks-and-mortar Ricos anytime soon, with Wilson going hard on pop-ups.

“[I want to] collaborate more with other chefs, get back to doing the stuff that I get a lot of enjoyment out of. That stuff never feels like work, just hanging out and creating with friends, throwing a party. In an ideal world, my career is just exclusively side quests. There’s no main body of work – I’m just doing all the fun stuff on the side.”

How fun is this: Ghostboy Cantina – Wilson’s legendary Dixon Street foodcourt taqueria – is slated to make a comeback, with a charcoal barbeque event in Chippendale all but confirmed for next month. Other side quests have included his vintage cookbook cooking series and obscure world cooking championships (the man’s a two time World Porridge Championships finalist). “I just want to put myself in a position to be able to say yes to all the events, all the opportunities. Like, I’d love to do more things like The Golden Spurtle – that was such a great experience, and we had so much success with the Sydney Film Festival.”

Solotel will cease operating The Norfolk later this month. The news comes soon after the group sold four of its venues – The Sheaf, Petersham Public House, Barangaroo House and The Erko – to Australian Venue Co.

“We want to thank Toby for all he has brought to Ricos and The Norfolk,” Solotel CEO Elliot Solomon says. “We wish him all the best with this next chapter. We are excited to see what he does next.”

@tobywilson