Much to the dismay of my digestive system (lots of beans+lots of lettuce=not good times; bad times), while in Utah this weekend I had three helpings of Cafe Rio. It was a staple of my undergrad years at BYU and becomes almost a daily occurence whenver we visit Utah. It's pretty boring of us, but we shamelessly go there as often as possible. It's pretty faux-Mexican (they say "inspired"), which should probably offend me based on the time I spent in Mexico. We forgive them, but The Wife and I are fairly certain that they put an addictive substance in the food there.
Our family's basic menu consists of a salad or a burrito, though they also have tacos and enchiladas which I hear are good. The salads are massive, sitting in a homemade flour tortilla the size of a charger, and have rice, beans, meat, lettuce, tortilla strips, guacamole, salsa, cheese, and cilantro. The burritos are best "enchilada style," where they drown them in sauce and cheese and then bake them for a few moments. They're expanding, thankfully, but have yet to make it to Colorado. In Provo, it's not uncommon for the line to order food to be out the door. As I usually do, I scoffed at something that universally popular, but the workers there soon knew my name and my order.
I lump it in with IN-N-OUT, as I must consume one meal from IN-N-OUT per calendar day I am in California at any given time. Now, if my visit consists of a Sunday (no eating out on Sundays), then that just means that I need to make up for it with a two-fer on another day. Yes, I've done this.
IN-N-OUT is fast food perfection. This will not be argued or contested in any way. Most Californians rave over it and with good reason. Their schtick is that they were the first drive thru burger place out of the era of car hops. They've kept their prices reasonable and comparable to traditional fast food joints while not having a single refrigerator on the premises. They get all of their ingredients freshly delivered each day. So, they slice their own potatoes for fries, slice their own vegetables for the burgers, and everything tastes it.
I'll keep this appropriately modest--it's still just a burger and it's not gourmet by any means, but for something that you buy at a fast food place it tastes like something you'd whip up in your backyard. If you can have that, why would you ever choose a Big Mac or a Whopper? My buddies and I in high school were there at least once a week (Double-Double meal with grilled onions, Dr. Pepper, maybe with a cheeseburger to chase it--after all, we were growing boyos). Good memories.
More than the food, however, I will put in one other plug. They're also a very well-run business. They refuse to grow faster than they can support the infrastructure needed to keep their identity of fresh food and good service. They used to be a Southern California only place, but have since grown up north to Northern California, out to Arizona, Nevada, and most recently to Southern Utah. They're probably following the exodus of middle-class Californians. What I've always liked about them, though, is that they pay their lowest-level employees a comparable wage to competitors' managers. They can be a bit more picky, then, with who they hire. The result is a pretty good experience.
(WARNING: Author about to get on his high horse) Now, we consumers have more power than we think. We all gripe about bad service at places that we continue to patronize. Both of the above-mentioned establishments do a good job of using fresh food and treating their employees pretty well. Both have great service. If we want other things we like to adopt a similar model, all we can do is put the power in our wallets and dictate what we want by what we spend.
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