The truck is not particularly bright and colorful but for some reason it piqued my interest. The menu affords the diner many choices and extreme personalization of their far east soft taco experience. First, you choose whether you'd like flour or corn tortillas. Guests then choose from Powerful Steak, Bang Tang Chicken, Spicy Flying Pig (pork), and Sweet Sexy Tofu. I ordered three different meats but we'll get to my choices after I explain the whole menu. After settling on a meat, a sauce must be decided upon: spicy Salsa Roja, milder spicy mayo, #15 Sauce, the house specialty, and Spicy Pineapple. As if the choices weren't enough already, you then have to choose your slaw. These choices are kimchi-lime, spicy yellow corn, sweet chili romaine and grilled bean sprouts. Finally, each patron must chose a "finisher:" onion-lime relish or cheese-crema. With over 100 possible creation combinations, I did not take deciding what to order lightly. Also, I'm terribly indecisive so it was even more of a challenge but I managed and am very pleased with my decisions.
I chose to have all three of my tacos on flour tortillas because I prefer them over corn. For my first taco, I chanced it with the bang tang chicken, #15 sauce, spicy corn and cheese-crema. This first taco was hands-down my favorite. The chicken was juicy and packed a nice grilled flavor while the #15 sauce, which they describe as sweet and mild, was unreal! It was a light juicy red colored sauce that was sweet almost like a sweet BBQ sauce but then had a big kick. The corn initially seemed like a balancing factor to the spice because of its texture but then had a strong adobe, chipotle flavor! The #15 sauce spice was sweet with a vinegary spiced flavor as an aftertaste while the corn had a more southwestern bite. The cheese sauce was the ultimate finish with its richer, mild texture, subtle sweetness of the cream, and tartness of the cheese. Wow. Next time I go, I'm definitely ordering three of these!
My second taco was my second favorite made up of steak, salsa roja, kimchi lime and onion-lime relish. The steak was also juicy and flavorful but what made this taco was the slaw and finish. The salsa had the spice and fresh flavor of a traditional red salsa. The kimchi lime slaw had an awesome crunch from the fresh cabbage and the lime flavor was so fresh it tasted like someone had picked limes from a tree that morning and marinated my kimchi in them. The onion-lime relish was a great accompaniment which paired ideally with the lime slaw. I loved this taco for its refreshing, sharp, flavors and how well they paired with the heavy steak protein.
For me, the third taco wasn't as much of a hit but with 100 other possible combinations, it won't deter me from returning to the food truck. My third taco was filled with the pork, spicy pineapple, sweet chili romaine and onion-lime relish. The chili romaine was good and added a nice crunch but the spicy pineapple consisted of almost no pineapple and the pork wasn't really to my liking.
Far East Taco Grille was a delicious lunch and for eight bucks, it can't be beat in terms of value! I definitely recoomend a visit to this food truck if you're in DC!
