Cafe Rio in California?

Since leaving Utah we (okay me mostly) have really missed Cafe Rio! It's sad how much I crave it so I decided I must have it. No, we did not drive to Utah. Instead we brought Cafe Rio to us. I found similar cafe rio recipes online and set to work to make a knock off cafe rio salad. I think they turned our pretty dang close!

It did take a lot of stuff, but I have mostly everything now I will need for next time:



Here are the recipes I used:

Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa

5-6 lb. pork roast

21 oz. Dr. Pepper (or Coke, do NOT use diet soda)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
6-ish oz. red taco sauce (I used hot)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Place roast in crock-pot, cover half-way with water and cook on low for 12 hours. After 12 hours, drain pork (retain liquid if you want sauce for burritos, simply mix with a can of verde enchilada sauce and away you go).

Mix remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. I didn’t keep the actual chilies, I dumped the can into a bowl and added enough Dr. Pepper to get all the sauce off of the chilies, then I tossed them. I also rinsed out the can with Dr. Pepper for more adobo goodness. My version had a fairly good kick to it, but if you LOVE hotness, then blend everything + 2 or 3 chilies in the blender. (Also, the adobo sauce tends to stain plastic, using a glass or metal mixing bowl will make your clean-up of adobo sauce considerably less frustrating).

Add Dr. Pepper mixture to the roast and cook on low an additional 4 hours.

Take out roast and shred, add back into sauce and cook for 2 more hours. At this point the meat was so tender it practically shredded itself.

Cafe Rio Tomatillo Dressing

1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
3 tomatillos (remove papery skin), rough chop
1 cup mayo
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup (or more) cilantro, rough chop
3 cloves garlic
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp green Tabasco sauce
juice from 1 lime

Dump everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate in air-tight container (or your entire fridge will smell like garlic and cilantro).


Easy Pico-de-Gallo

3 tomatoes, diced
1/2 bunch of cilantro, minced
1/2 sweet onion, minced
1 section of green pepper, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
about 1/3-1/2 cup vinegar (use your best judgement)
salt and pepper

Dump everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate in air-tight container (or your entire fridge will smell like garlic and cilantro).

Black beans:

2 cans of black beans (could probably even use 3)
1 1/3 cup tomato juice
2 cloves of garlic
teaspoon ground cumin
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over meduik heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro.


Cilantro lime rice:

2 cups of uncooked rice (I used minute rice)
4 cups water mixed with 2-4 tsp chicken bouillion (I used 2 cups water and 2 bouillion cubes)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp butter

saute butter and garlic until soft, don't let burn! Add rice and cook for a minute or two on medium heat. Add water and boullion mixture and remaining ingredients to a boil. After it begins to boil rapidly, reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Stir occasionally and let simmer for about 20 minutes. (I just followed minute rice instructions and then addes garlic, butter, cilantro and lime juice after rice is done.)


Tortilla Strips – slice a corn tortilla into strips, brush with olive oil and salt and pepper and bake on a foil-covered sheet for 15-20 minutes at 350-ish.


And walla! The finished product looked like a Cafe Rio salad to me and Chad said they were amazing. So I give myself a pat on the back for giving us some spectacular Cafe Rio this weekend.


Disclaimer: Nothing really compares to the real Cafe Rio so stop by there on your next visit to Utah!