Cafe Rio

Cafe Rio, a fast-fresh Mexican restaurant chain from Utah, has finally made it to the DC area. Cafe Rio has mostly expanded to states bordering Utah, but they made the jump out here probably because there's a pretty decent population of transplants from Utah. A lot of Utah mormons come out here to work for the government, or to attend one of the many universities here.

Cafe Rio is affectionately referred to as Mormon crack (the pork salads with the creamy tomatillo dressing are considered the most addictive). And, speaking from experience, you don't actually have to be Mormon to enjoy the food (I swear it!!). Every time we would go back to visit family in Utah, Cafe Rio would be on the list of places we had to go. When we moved away from Utah, we found copycat recipes so that we could enjoy Cafe Rio-esque food when the craving called. Now Cafe Rio has finally joined us here! And we couldn't have been more ecstatic. It's a bit out in the middle of nowhere (i.e., nowhere near a metro line), but luckily it's only a 25-30 minute drive from where we live. That could be a lot worse.

We heard about the new Cafe Rio location here during its first week of business. We heard the news on a Friday and went on a Saturday. So we went when it was still fairly new. We wondered if it would be very busy yet. Cafe Rios in Utah always have a line. It's just expected that if you want Cafe Rio, you're going to have to wait for it. We wondered how busy it would be at this one -- obviously Utahns in the area would definitely go, but how many would that be and how long would it take for them to hear that a Cafe Rio was in town? I should have known the power of Cafe Rio and its cult status... We pull into the new Cafe Rio and the parking lot was packed. We saw a shitload of minivans and SUVs -- the automobile of choice for many a mormon family. We also saw a decent amount of Virginia license plates (when Utah mormons move to the DC area, they end up living all over...but, there does seem to be a larger proportion that choose to live in Virginia. I guess DC and Maryland are just way too liberal for them...). Coming from Virginia means they were willing to drive quite the distance to get themselves some Cafe Rio. (Oh and there was even a Idaho license plate in the parking lot. They probably were relieved a Cafe Rio opened up while they were in town or when they just barely moved to town).

Walking into the Cafe Rio I experienced two things I don't see much of in the DC area: Tons of little kids and all the customers were white. Walking through those doors, I stepped into a portal that transported me to Utah. It really felt like we were in Utah. That could be the Utah embassy. There were so many young couples with children. There were also a decent amount of young pregnant women. I heard Utah accents. The outfits were Utah-mormon (including girls wearing tank tops under not-that-revealing shirts and dresses, men in khaki cargo shorts with brown leather flip flops. I also saw plenty of undergarment lines). The hair was Utah-mormon. It's hard to describe exactly what Utah-mormon hair or clothing looks like, it's just one of those things you know when you see it. Only people that grew up in Utah really know what I'm talking about. Just know that it looked like Utah exploded all over the place.

Eagan is posing with my salad and his. He didn't actually order two salads...

You could tell which people were the Utah transplants and which people were just visiting this new restaurant called Cafe Rio. The Utahns were the ones that didn't need to look at a menu at all, and they ordered their meals and all the fixings really quickly. I even saw people pulling out Cafe Rio stamp cards. You can always count on Utah mormons to be thrifty. Cafe Rio has a card where you get a stamp for each entree you purchase, and when you get 10, you get a free meal (and when this happens, the workers shout out "FREE MEAL!" They also shout out "EXTRA MEAT" when someone orders that). This Cafe Rio is in its first week, so the odds are this is the customers' first time coming to this particular Cafe Rio. Which means these customers have collected Cafe Rio stamps at other Cafe Rio locations and they keep the card with them, ready for any chance visit to a Cafe Rio. I myself do the exact same. I have a Cafe Rio card in my wallet that I keep for when I go to Utah, and I'm glad that I can now use it here. One person even got a free meal at Cafe Rio the night we were there (I bet the owners didn't think they'd be giving out a free meal that early in their tenure). That's another way you could tell the Utahns from the non-Utahns, when the workers would shout out "FREE MEAL!" or "EXTRA MEAT!", the Utahns didn't flinch at all. The other customers looked very confused.

One thing that kind of weirded me out is that the line/prep line went left to right at this location. Every Cafe Rio I have ever been to the line goes right to left...with the ladies making tortillas to the right and the person that puts your completed meal on the tray is to the left. It was the opposite here. It just felt wrong...

Halfway through our meal, we noticed a couple of young kids playing on the patio out front by the parking lot, unattended, while their parents ate inside. The kids were walking/balancing on a raised railing, with a cement patch down below. Like I said, I felt like I was actually in Utah.

But guess what?! This Cafe Rio is actually open on Sunday! That's definitely the time to go. I bet the place will be nearly empty. A Cafe Rio open on Sunday -- I never thought I'd see the day! I will revel in this rare opportunity.

I Think I'll Head Home

I recently took a trip out to Utah to visit my family because I hadn't seen them in a while and I was missing them. I happened to be in Utah for Pioneer Day. This is a Utah holiday on July 24th -- people have the day off and everything. (Cue History Channel program music) Pioneer Day celebrates the arrival of Brigham Young and his band of traveling Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. This is when he delivered his "This is the Place" line. And now Utah has a This is the Place Heritage Park with a This is the Place Monument, and the state song is "Utah, This Is the Place" (though when I was growing up, the state song was "Utah, We Love Thee").

Anyway, Pioneer Day is a holiday that celebrates "The Days of '47". There's parades, fairs (with funnel cakes!), rodeos, fireworks. Some people walk portions of the Mormon Trail and reenact entering the Salt Lake Valley while wearing pioneer clothes and carry handcarts (excitement overload!). Pioneer Day doesn't hold the same appeal it did when I was a kid. When I was a kid I was so excited to go to the parade and to pick up candy off the ground that was thrown to the crowd (which seems very vagabond-esque, now that I think about it). One year I even participated in the parade and dressed up like a pioneer (in a pioneer dress that my neighbor had made for me for a school play -- because my mom can't sew. She took Latin in high school, not Home Ec. She would rather learn a dying language than to learn how to sew a pot holder. Love it.). I thought I was so cool in my little pioneer dress.

As a kid, I also loved going to the Pioneer Day fair for the games and to see friends from school that I hadn't seen all summer. Now the only thing I look forward to about Pioneer Day (other than my family having the day off) is the fair food (did I mention funnel cakes?!) and the fireworks. Although, about those fireworks -- bless Utah's heart (the best Mormon way to draw attention to someone or something's shortcomings. "Bless his heart, but he is as dumb as a bag of rocks." Just like "She's a sweet spirit" is the best way to draw attention to someone's ugliness and/or weight problem), but those fireworks are pretty paltry and sad. They were always kind of paltry and sad, but I'm especially ruined now after witnessing the DC fireworks -- you know there's no fucking around when it comes to the Nation's Capital Fireworks (capitalization needed).

Speaking of how sad Logan fireworks are, every year Logan has their 4th of July fireworks the day before. So the closest you can come to 4th of July fireworks in Logan is the 3rd of July. They have it the day before because it's cheaper (the group that puts on the fireworks show charges less). Seriously. This year the 4th of July fell on a Sunday. And Utah is definitely not going to have fireworks on Sunday (It's da-day-uh-da-lord). So the fancy fireworks (in Salt Lake City and in Provo at the Stadium of Fire -- which was first created by an Osmond-brother-that-wasn't-Donny) had their shows on the 3rd of July. Which means Logan had theirs on the 2nd of July! Happy Independence Day Minus Two Days!

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I was excited to go to Utah because I got to meet the latest addition to the family: A German Shorthair (German Shorthaired Pointer) dog named Tuck. My parents got this dog earlier this year. He's a very cute and nice dog. He's super fast. And he contorts his body into funny positions when he sits or lays down.

Look at how he likes to sit!

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Another highlight of the trip was the Rocky Votolato house show with Holly and Davis (thanks guys!). What a great intimate setting for seeing Rocky -- just him and his acoustic guitar. No mic, no amp. Just him. He sounded amazing.

The show also made me feel really old (at age 26!). Based on the applause of recognition that would come before songs (and people mouthing the lyrics during the song), it was fairly obvious the crowd first started getting into Rocky when he released his Makers album and didn't know much stuff before that album. In fact, Rocky said at one point, "If you guys don't mind, I think I might play some old stuff. This song is from the Makers album..." And the crowd went wild. While they were going wild, I was thinking to myself "Makers is an old album?!" There were like four full length albums that came out before Makers. I was into Waxwing (Rocky's previous band) in high school and got really into Rocky Votolato's solo stuff my freshman year of college (early 2002). Makers came out after I already graduated from college (2006). And yet Makers was an old album? Ouch.

Another indicator of how old I was in comparison to the crowd: After the show, people were coming up and talking to Rocky and one girl said, "I love you so much! I've loved you ever since I heard you on The OC!" I was waiting for her to finish that sentence with "...when I was in middle school." But I'm glad younger kids are liking excellent music.

Regardless of feeling out of place age-wise, it was an amazing show and I'm so glad I went. He played for about an hour-and-a-half and he played songs from several of his albums (even the old, old, old ones). I've seen Rocky in concert so many times and this was probably my favorite concert of his.

So good

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While in Ogden for the Rocky concert:

I forgot how ugly and retro the Mormon temple in Ogden is. Yuck. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that the least amount of people get married in this (Utah) temple. And if they do, they drive to another temple after the ceremony to get their pictures taken.

What a weird patriotic horse statue. Who thought it would be a good idea to paint the founding fathers on a horse?

The painter must have had a real problem with John Adams if he placed him on the ass.

And how bizarre that the statue-maker felt it was necessary to include the penis and balls on this horse. Were they worried that some passerby would say, "Hey, where's the penis?! This horse isn't anatomically correct. Sure, George Washington is standing up inside the horse's stomach...but I take real issue with the horse not having a penis and testicles!"

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I do miss the mountains. And having this in my backyard:

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The best part of the trip, of course, was seeing everyone that I miss. Annnnd eating at my favorite restaurants.

The Peculiarities of Local Speech

Growing up in Utah, I used the phrase "fresh-water lake". For those that have grown up in other places, there is no need for that qualifier. Fresh-water lake is redundant. Only for Utahns do you make the distinction, because there is in fact a difference. There are fresh-water lakes and a giant salt lake.

Now I live in a place that when someone says to me, "I'll meet you at the mall", I have to clarify if they mean the shopping mall or the National Mall.