As far as local businesses go, they don’t come much quirkier than Balance Pan-Asian Grille. Just ask Justin Paat, Balance’s Media Guru, or ‘Propaganda Pirate’ as Balance calls it, who was accused of being a member of the Illuminati when he began working as a cashier at Balance’s location on Central Avenue in Sylvania.
After working there about a month, he answered the phone and a caller asked, “Are you part of the Illuminati? I’m sitting in Wal-Mart across the street and I’m looking at your menu. I can see you talking on the phone…. Oh, are you aware there’s a 666 in your logo?'”
That gentleman was obviously confused, there’s nothing occult about Balance’s logo, but the organization is in tune with the esoteric movements of the planets: on March 20, at the time of the vernal equinox, Balance changed over to its spring menu.
The rotating menu has as much to do with the nature of business as it does with the supernatural. “It keeps it fresh, it lets us push out new stuff and experiment with new things. It helps to distance ourselves from regular Asian restaurants,” Paat said. As is the trend with fast casual restaurants, Balance sports a slim menu, and by rotating that menu seasonally, allowing them to focus on items clients like, and improve (or eliminate) unpopular items. Balance serves ‘Asian’ food, but its approach is multicultural and traditional, with fresh, locally bought vegetables cooked lightly.
Taco time
This spring’s multicultural culinary theme can be easily summed up: tacos. “All I heard all winter was ‘When are your tacos coming back? I love these tacos,'” he said. “Most of them stayed the same. A couple of them we improved or tweaked a little bit.”
Balance’s idea of tacos is both off-kilter and original. “When you look at what a taco is in Mexico, not at Taco Bell, it’s basically just some meat inside a tortilla—ours are traditional like that,” Paat said. At Balance ‘taco’ means any Asian dish served on a flour or corn tortilla.
To sample the spring menu, I munched on a pair of vegan & gluten-free Bumbu2 tacos. My healthy sample was crunchy and market-fresh. A light sprinkling of Thai guy sauce gave everything a creamy peanut butter flavor, but also packed a mildly hot finish. All five of Balance’s tacos are worth your consideration. We’ve included a handy guide graphic, or submit your own combination of ingredients.
Build a bite
Balance is challenging customers to invent taco ideas as part of their Summerjam Taco Contest. People need only tweet or Instagram their ideas to Balance at #toledotaco. Got an idea for a taco? Write it down, take a picture, and Instagram it. The top 5 ideas, selected by Smash Toledo, will be offered to the public during Summer Jam. The inventor of the winning taco will win a year of free Bubble Tea from Balance, as well as $250 worth of swag, designed by Toledo’s own Jupmode.
Balance Pan Asian Grille
5860 W. Central Ave., 419-578-7777
Mon-Sun, 11am-9pm,
514 The Boulevard, 419-893-9999
Mon-Sat, 11am-9pm balancegrille.com
