Cafe Rio - Taylorsville

Cafe Rio is obscenely good fast food in a loud and casual atmosphere. In line, a circular rotating griddle is on display for you to watch fresh tortillas being made from scratch before your eyes. To order, you yell out your choice of entree (taco, burrito, salad, etc.) to the staff lined up in an assembly line on the other side of the glass partition. You are constantly moving up the line as you call out your preferred ingredients (similar to ordering a sandwich at Subway). Everything is assembled (thrown) into a disposable round aluminum pan. Online ordering system is slick.

Grilled Steak Salad.  All the salads come in a fresh tortilla heated on the griddle sprinkled with some cheese. Black beans or refried beans? Rice or no rice? Everything on it? Lettuce? Pico de Gallo? Cheese? Cilantro? Lime? Guacamole? No chips, please. I love this salad. Portions are huge and can easily split between 2 people.

Creamy House Dressing.  Addicting, tangy, spicy, sour, punchy. Pour this over everything.

Salsa Fresca.  Spicy with lots of punch. They don't voluntarily offer this so you have to request it.

2 Grilled Chicken Enchiladas.  The tortillas are delicious and cheesy. Mild, medium or spicy sauce? Cheese? Black or refried beans? Lettuce and pico de gallo? This is SO GOOD. I always mix the medium and spicy sauces together. This is definitely 2 solid meals. Be sure to seal it up and refrigerate it. Next day heat it up in a toaster oven until everything is nice and toasty.

This Cafe Rio Taylorsville location is important to me because next door... SHHH! It's sort of a secret. Unveiling to come soon ;')

I also had a bummer moment ;'(

Cafe Rio in Taylorsville

(801) 327-9050

1856 West 5400 South

Taylorsville, Utah 84118

Official site for Cafe Rio.

The Old Bridge Cafe in Salt Lake City

Keisha took us on a cultural adventure lunch date sampling authentic Bosnian home-cooked dishes at the new Old Bridge Cafe in South Salt Lake. I recognized the neighborhood immediately, a few miles east of West Valley on 3300 South near Wasatch Steel, up from the movie theater on State Street, and across the street from the New Ho Ho Gourmet.

The restaurant was small and modest, spotlessly clean with charming murals and mosaic accents on the walls. Ibro, the gracious owner (who immigrated to the U.S. from Bosnia in 1998), gave us a brief history lesson on the Bosnian war and explained the authenticity of each dish in proud detail.

Cappuccino.  We needed to start off alert and perky ;')

Homemade Pita Bread.  The pita was crusty on the outside, and dense and fluffy on the inside, almost like a hard cracked naan bread. Ours were filled with light herbs and onion. Delicious.

Buredzici.  Fillo dough stuffed with meat and onion, covered with yogurt and garlic. This set the tone for beautiful authentic home-cooked Bosnian food. Unbelievable flavors.

Spicy kick.

Yogurt Mixture.  This was a sort of special rich and creamy yogurt, butter and garlic mixture. Subtle taste and super rich. 

Ajvar Sauce.  Made with red bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplant. I added this gorgeous bright smear to everything.

Dolma.  Stuffed green pepper with ground beef and rice, potatoes in a broth. More subtle and beautiful flavors. This was stew-like, wet and rich.

Cevapi, House Special, $6.99 for 10 pieces.  Sausage-style meatballs were addicting. Each bite contained ridiculous herby flavor. Like dense meaty patties shaped like sausages. I ate it taco style ripping up pieces of pita. Another awesome dish.

Tiramisu Cake.  Delicious, moist, cold, yummy.

Homemade Baklava.  Incredibly homey, sweet, nutty and rich.

This meal was made with meticulous care and love. When you do visit The Old Bridge Cafe, be sure to bring friends and order family style!

Old Bridge Cafe

(801) 466-4330

249 East 3300 South

Salt Lake City, 84115

Official site for Old Bridge Cafe.

Jamba Juice - Taylorsville Utah

This was the nicest and happiest Jamba Juice I've been in, in Utah. Located in that confusing disorganized strip mall on the southwest corner of Redwood Rd and 5400 South in Taylorsville, it's definitely a destination location for all the locals who are into the healthier choices. Impressed with the impeccable service and super sharp staff, I lingered around for another 15 minutes and counted over 100 bodies going in and out!

Blueberry Blackberry Oatmeal.  Soymilk, blueberry blackberry topping, brown sugar crumble (contains wheat and milk). Posters are up everywhere marketing their steel-cut oatmeal so I just had to try some. Served hot, perfectly portioned, incredible flavors. I'm coming back to try all the other flavors.

Acai Super-Antioxidant.  Acai juice blend, soymilk, strawberries, raspberry sherbet, blueberries, ice, anti-oxidant power boost. Delicious, refreshing, etc.

Cranberry Chocolate Antioxidant Mix.  This is gourmet trail mix filled with the perfect palate balanced mix of cranberries, cashews, chocolate covered cranberries, dark chocolate bits, cherries, goji berries and pistachios. All of it was delicious and flavorful. Textures galore.

Mustang in Park City

Mustang is one of the all-time great restaurants on Main Street, Park City. Food is consistent, service is fabulous, plates are enormous. The only reason we don't frequent Mustang more often is because it's loud inside in a weird acoustics sort of way. Summer nights outside on the patio are ideal—live music, people watching and picturesque sunsets. Tonight was cold (fyi, it snowed all week!?) so we sat inside with Dean and enjoyed spectacular fancy comfort food over great conversation. 

It was $5 corkage night—sweet ;')

Southwestern Style Grilled Honduran Lobster Tail, $47.50.  These were giant meaty lobster tails, 14 oz, grilled and topped with grapefruit salsa. Grapefruit, an unusual citrus choice, added a phenomenal tangy kick. Hubby, as expected, subbed the caloric-heavy enchilada with sauteed spinach.

Southwestern Style Honduran Lobster Tail with Enchiladas.  Brian's enormous lobster plate came as the chef intended—topped with segmented grapefruit salsa and spinach and jack cheese enchiladas with a house enchilada sauce. So decadent. So rich and fabulous!

Rack of Lamb with Asparagus.  Dean and I, the proud carnivores, ordered the Special—a full rack of lamb (oh yeah!) with super special raviolis. Dean subbed the raviolis for asparagus spears, the lighter choice.

Rack of Lamb with Ravioli.  The lamb special came with rich, cheesy, smooth, creamy and decadent raviolis. Tender chops served perfectly medium rare with a crispy tasty sear and mouthwatering jus. Unreal! Mustang really knows meat.

Berry Cobbler with Vanilla Ice-cream.  Brown-sugary chunky crusty bits, hot bake berry explosions next to fresh cold berries, and ice cold vanilla—omg!

Mustang

(435) 658-3975

890 Main Street (lower Main St Plaza)

Park City, UT 84060

Official site for Mustang.

Jeri's Gourmet & Bar-B-Que Sauce - grilled drumsticks

I first tried out Jeri's Gourmet & Bar-B-Que Sauce years ago when I was obsessed with finding the perfect ready-made sauce for those lazy rushed grillin' days. I found it (available at the f/k/a Dan's and Albertson's)—this is it! No additional doctoring up required. It already contains that je ne sais quoi kick that warrants all that finger-lickin' action that makes a BBQ sauce amazing. Trust me!

Take some grillin' protein, like a bunch of organic drumsticks, shown here. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. I almost always add some salt and pepper first.

Pour Jeri's BBQ Sauce onto the chicken drumsticks, enough to coat evenly with a little extra for basting.

Using tongs, toss so that the drumsticks are slathered all over with sauce. While the grill is heating up, allow the chicken to marinate room temperature for 30 minutes or let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.

Add the marinated drumsticks to the grill, set on medium, spaced out. Leave on the grill for about 7-10 minutes on one side before turning. Turn once, baste with extra sauce and leave on for another 5 minutes. Voila! Totally finger-lickin'!

Perfect tasty protein choice for gorgeous biking days. Max rockin his new wheels...

xo