Interesting question.
I don't think there is any plug-able functionality in Kendo MVC Wrappers to change this. You can take a look at the source code : Kendo.Mvc.Extensions.FilterTokenExtensions and maybe change this.
However you can also modify my project on github : KendoGridBinderEx, take a look at the file FilterObject.cs
Change code:
switch (op)
{
...
case "contains":
exStr = string.Format("{0}{2}.Contains({1})", field, param, caseMod);
break;
...
To
switch (op)
{
...
case "contains":
exStr = string.Format("{0}{2}.Search({1})", field, param, caseMod);
break;
...
Please let me know if this works.