Far East Mexican Grill

If you’re in the area and your mouth wants to go a little crazy, then eat here. The idea of tofu tacos, while kind of weird, ends up being satisfying in reality. Overall I liked it, but then again, I was prepared to be eating asian food dressed up in taco clothes.

This little hole in the wall recently changed from a Vietnamese place to this Asian-​Mexican taco shop, and it’s a positive change… I tried the fish, pork and tofu tacos, and they were all nicely done. I don’t really like the shiitake in the tofu one, but that’s just my tastebuds; the fish was not too heavily breaded, and the shredded pork had a salty teriyaki-​like flavor that was an interesting twist. The corn chips and salsa were very fresh and tasty, and for $ 6 I got all of this plus a drink. The food is made and served with care — but it’s also the slowest of any lunch place I’ve been to in the U-​district, so don’t go if here if you’re in a hurry. Overall, good stuff.

Most of the «fusion» restaurants on the Ave seem to have come about through the process of a Korean person opening up a non-​Korean restaurant, discovering that there is an actual demand for Korean dishes, and adding dukbokki and kalbi to the menu alongside the burgers or teriyaki (e.g. Orange King or University Teriyaki).
The experience is a bit different at Far East Mexican Grill. The fusion elements are hidden behind a menu that looks exactly like that of a taqueria that happens to serve tofu. Until you take a bite, there’s no indication that the flavors are much closer to teriyaki than traditional Mexican dishes. I had chicken soup with rice vermicelli (tasty, but hard to eat with just a spoon), a pork taco (a bit too sweet, but the texture was just right), a chicken taco (not as sweet as the pork, and probably the highlight), and a tongue taco (well-​seasoned, but too chewy). Of the two provided salas, the rojo was a much better fit for the other flavors than the verde. They don’t carry the shtick on as far as, Marination or Koi Fusion, but it’s still a welcome change for the neighborhood.
Prices are comparable to a taco truck, which is pretty good for four walls, a roof, and actual tables and chairs — three tacos, a side, and a drink is $ 6, and other items are similarly priced. No Mexican or Asian sodas, sorry.
Like most places on the Ave, Far East is pretty good but probably not worth a special trip. If you do find yourself in the neighborhood, it is definitely worth at least one visit simply for the novelty factor and the fact that they actually pull off that novelty fairly well.

I was walking down the Ave a few afternoons ago, trying to decide what to have for lunch, when my eye wandered across a sign saying ‘Far East Mexican Grill’. Now, I read ‘Mexican Grill’ as code for ‘Chipotle clone’, and a burrito sounded good, so I stepped in. But the ‘Far East’ bit was really what intrigued me. Some sort of East Asian/​Mexican fusion burrito place?
Well, basically, no. Far East serves a minimalist menu of cheap tacos and tortas. Taco fillings are the the usual chicken, pork, beef, tongue. Also veggie, according to Mark T’s not-​at-​all-​shady-​looking review below. The tortas only come in chicken and pork, I think. There may also have been some salad options, but I didn’t really notice, since I’m salad-​blind. (It’s a thing.)
I considered the tongue, but eating lengua is a bit too much like kissing a cow, so I went with the pork taco plate. Three tacos, rice and beans. It was carnitas-​inspired shredded pork, on a pretty standard corn tortilla (one per taco), dressed with green onions. Interesting change from the usual white onions + cilantro. The tacos were somewhat sparsely filled, but still a reasonable deal at $ 1.50. Lime wedges and red and green hot sauce on the side. I poured on some sauce and bit into a taco. Sweet. Not sweet as in ‘Dude! Sweet!’. Sweet as in ‘who put syrup in my taco?’. At first I thought it was the sauce, but no, it was the meat itself. Not bad, mind you. But sweet.
Verdict: an interesting change, but I’m not giving up Mi Charrito’s any time soon.