I Want the Rio!

When I was at BYU in '99, Michael's roommate came home from this restaurant with a HUGE taco salad that looked so incredibly yummy. When we asked where he got it from, he said, "I can't remember the name. It's some new restaurant over on University Parkway, in the Food-4-Less shopping center". The next day Michael and I discovered the wonderfulness that is Cafe Rio.

If you have never lived, visited, or otherwise been through Utah to experience this joy for yourself, I highly recommend it. More than highly. If you want to know what the food will taste like in heaven, then go eat a pork enchilada at Cafe Rio. Or a pork salad. Or a pork tamale...


Here is my yummy double pork enchilada with 1/2 black, 1/2 pinto beans, rice, and lettuce. Doesn't it look so delicious?! The pork there is so yummy because they cook it with sugar - super succulent and super sweet.


After I discovered the joy of the Rio, it seems like everyone else in Utah County did too. The place exploded in popularity and now there are Cafe Rio's all through Utah and now down in Arizona. When Michael and I got married, we would eat at Cafe Rio sometimes 4 times a week! When the popularity really hit, you could wait in line for food for up to 45 minutes. So I discovered the order-by-phone method - that way you can get your Cafe Rio when you want it! My sister and I called enough that it necessitated putting Cafe Rio on our speed dials - titled "I want the Rio" and said in a high-pitched, falsetto voice (you have to really know me and my sister to appreciate that).


So whenever we make our trek out West, we have to stop at the Rio once, or twice, or 4 times. We'll see what the tally gets up to this time.