When owner Yoon Bigot opened Taco Mogo, she hoped that Eugene locals and visitors would expand their palates and try something new. With no culinary school experience, Bigot learned the cooking trade by experimenting with foods she enjoys.
When her son, who is Korean and American, married his Mexican wife, Bigot was excited by the idea of fusing the two cultures through food. This is where she began her creation of Korean tacos and burritos.
The word “Mogo” is a Korean phrase that means “eat up,” as a way of encouraging someone to enjoy their meal.
Bigot’s staff is a blend of Hispanic and Korean employees, but Bigot says that the language barrier has not been hard to deal with. Most of Bigot’s employees are fluent in English, allowing employees to communicate with one another despite coming from different backgrounds.
One of Taco Mogo’s most popular dishes is the birria ramen, which fuses Korean and Mexican classics. The dish was born from experimentation in the kitchen.
The birria takes around four hours to put together because of the variety of chilies that go into preparing the different barbacoa meats. Once Bigot blended the chilies, she realized the sauce surplus could be used in one of her noodle recipes.
Bigot also owns the Vietnamese noodle restaurant Bon Mi, so she felt inspired to combine Mexican cuisine with something she was familiar with.
“I have always owned the noodle restaurant, and the weather is always cold here,” Bigot said, “So we thought, why don’t we do a different kind of noodle soup?”
Once it was implemented, Bigot said that it became one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes. Bigot said she has been able to learn on the fly, which has been helpful considering she’s only cooked Mexican food for a few years.
“I don’t know much about Mexican food. I know Korean, but you can learn; I just come up with dishes that mix the cuisines half and half,” Bigot said.
Taco Mogo also boasts a variety of tacos, with protein choices like Yum Yum Chicken, which is a Korean spin on charbroiled teriyaki chicken, and classic thin-sliced steak, beef bulgogi.
Taco Mogo also offers Yoon’s taco specials, with Bigot’s eccentric choices of crispy fish, sweet potato and grilled shrimp tacos.
Bigot chooses to swap out one ingredient in sides like salsas to blend the two cuisines. For example, instead of using tomato in a salsa, she will swap radish. Taco Mogo combines sesame oils and different chilies to create a cultural melting pot of salsas.
Ifur Legorio is a local who had never been to Taco Mogo, but went because of the Asian influence in her favorite dishes. “I saw the Korean word in the name, and pork belly is my favorite food,” Legorio said.
Bigot says that her learning curve came from practice and trying different dishes. “I didn’t learn from school. The way I like meals, hopefully guests will like it as well,” Bigot said.
Bigot hopes people acquire a taste for cultural fusion the same way she enjoys bringing the colorful flavors together.
