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Sunday, March 7, 2010

No substitute

For those who know me, they all know I love Mexican food. I'm not sure if Cafe Rio falls strictly into the Mexican food genre - but it has to be one of my all time favorite chains. When I was pregnant and John was doing his internship 4 hours away (and would come home to spend weekends with me since I was still working), he would pick up a delicious burrito from the nearest Cafe Rio (3 hours and 40 minutes away from our house) and call me to preheat the oven when he got close enough. One time, when the server heard he was taking it that far, they almost didn't let him have it. But the cravings of a pregnant women were stronger than my worry for food poisoning (plus it's not like I didn't reheat it before I ate it).
The basic concept is a burrito filled with lime flavored rice, black or pinto beans, and steak, chicken or a sweet pulled pork. You can also get salads with their amazing dressing (which is a ranch with lime & some other stuff - called tomatillo sauce). Their tortillas are homemade - right in front of you. There are other things on the menu but these are the two favorites.
There are a few imitation Cafe Rio's around. Costa Vida is the closest recipes to Cafe Rio. Rumor has it that the original Cafe Rio had two partners and they split - one still runs Cafe Rio and the other started Costa Vida (with a variation on the original recipe - a little more sweeter in my opinion). There is also a place called Bajio Grill - which became really popular in Rexburg, only because most students had never tasted how good Cafe Rio was. Both John & I have only been there twice & call it "Blahio" - their recipes are WAY too sweet (to the point that I was sick when I finished). John's cousin made homemade Cafe Rio with a recipe on the web but it sounded way too time consuming for me.
Luckily, Cafe Rio has chains all over Utah and Idaho now with some in Nevada and I think California. The closest one is 5 minutes to our house - so my craving has been satisfied. Last night, when John got to choose where we went out - he suggested Cafe Rio and I was a little hesitant.The last six months or so, Cafe Rio hasn't been first on my list when we choose a place to eat out. Maybe I overdosed, I don't know. So I decided to try something new (usually he gets the salad and I get the pork burrito). The fried shrimp taco did not disappoint. There was a lot more shrimp pieces than I expected and it was freshly fried- yum! Maybe I would have put more tomatillo dressing on it, but I stole some of John's from his salad - so I was ok. They also noticed we had Buddy with us and said that a kids quesadilla is always free. Awesome! He only ate a few bites (typical for Buddy) and then we had to coax a few more bites of beans into him (with a various bribe for each bite).
Anyway, I should try something new (well the shrimp taco was new) more often - I really liked it.

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