Rio Burritos reopens for first time since derecho

CEDAR RAPIDS — Rio Burritos, a former food truck, has reopened for the first time since the 2020 derecho, with a new emphasis in a new concept.

In June, owner Phoebe Rios opened a ghost kitchen at Rapid Foods, 4444 First. Ave NE. She joins several other concepts in the building that offers kitchen space, a shared dining room and a system for delivery and carryout orders.

Rios opened her first brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2002 with Rios in Marion and later owned Salsa del Rio in downtown Cedar Rapids from 2010 to 2012. Rio Burritos, the current restaurant’s namesake, operated out of a food truck from 2015 until 2020, when the derecho damaged the truck.

Twenty years after her first brick-and-mortar, she said the time is right to pioneer a new concept at a point when taste buds in Cedar Rapids have changed substantially.

“For so many years, we were just catering to the American palate and we did not want to do something authentic, because we were scared people were not going to like it. People were not as open,” Rios said. “Cedar Rapids is being so much more open to authentic foods now. Now is the time.”

With dozens of restaurants, Mexican cuisine is the largest locally-owned category of food in Cedar Rapids after American food. That means new openings like Rio Burritos have to fight to stand out from the crowd.

A loyal following of hungry clientele encouraged her to return to the restaurant industry, through constant requests for catering and food. So she put Rio Burritos back on the market, with an emphasis on street-style food preparation.

“The people always bring me back — the people that started being my customers when I had the first restaurant back in 2002,” Rios said. “What amazes me about Cedar Rapids is there’s a really strong community (interested in) helping a small business and wanting to see small businesses succeed.”

The food

With a straightforward menu of tacos, burritos and quesadillas, the street specialties and preparation are what makes Rio Burritos stand out. Building on a family background from northern and Central Mexico, the owner’s heritage also stands out slightly from many other restaurants centered on a style from Mexico City.

If you’re looking for something new but still want Mexican, you have a few unique options here.

Steak Pambazos, a fried torta sandwich, is stuffed with steak, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, beans and mozzarella cheese before being smothered in Rios’ signature red chile guajillo sauce.

Quesabirria tacos join a local war between several restaurants with a few variations from the reopened restaurant. Rios oils taco with double corn tortillas, add cheese and christens it with her red guajillo sauce. You can also order birria in a grilled cheese sandwich form made with Texas toast.

Notably, the beef consomme that accompanies the tacos also is made with red guajillo — and chunks of ramen noodles give it a different look from most consommes.

For a full experience, order with elote preparado corn on the cob, topped with a creamy cotija cheese and a tangy Tajin seasoning.

Wash it down with a several agua drink options like hibiscus, lime, watermelon or mango refreshers, each anchored by popping boba bubbles filled with their own flavors. Or for something a little creamier, try the horchata or strawberry horchata — a sweet, cinnamon-accented rice drink.

True to the street style, even desserts are worth mentioning, with options like strawberry churros and mangonadas — a mango ice cream that’s a staple throughout Mexican summers featuring a sweet and spicy chamoy sauce, mango chunks and Tajin seasoning on top.

With business growth, Rios hopes to expand with lunch hours, a diversified offering of street foods and to-go alcoholic beverages like Micheladas — the Mexican version of a Bloody Mary.

As the restaurant heads into fall and winter, it’s time to prepare for tamale season.

Ghost kitchen growth

Rio Burritos joins several other concepts that have found their start at Rapid Foods, the new ghost kitchen near Lindale Mall that allows businesses to grow with fully-equipped commercial kitchens, lower overhead costs, a shared dining room and a delivery-focused system that manages orders.

After trying both brick-and-mortar and a food truck model, the Cedar Rapids resident said the new concept made her comfortable jumping back in to running a restaurant. Although food trucks offer freedom of movement with no rent, she said limited space means more work with preparation, loading and unloading the truck.

With a changing food landscape in the City of Five Seasons, her street concept can join a crowded Mexican scene by bringing a new niche.

“Mexican restaurants are starting to be more authentic. When we started back in 2002, it was really tailoring to that American palate and tailoring to what they were accustomed to — the (fast food) kind of thing with flour tortillas, brown beef, that kind of food,” Rios said. “Now, we have so (many) more options.”

Continuing a heritage

Rios first learned to cook by watching her grandmother from Matamoros — just across the border from Brownsville, Texas — make fresh flour tortillas and molcajete with fresh tomatoes, onions and cactus from her garden.

Rios continues the tradition of flour tortillas in a Mexican scene that marginalizes northern Mexicans for their aberration from the food culture of the country largely focused on corn tortillas.

“I really believe we shouldn’t gatekeep certain foods,” said Rios, 45. “Sometimes it’s OK to fusion it up, as long as it’s tasty.”

Raised in Chicago, Rios’ passion for cooking was later reinvigorated by her mother-in-law, who came from the Guadalajara area of central Mexico.

Making food for a living “is not easy,” she conceded. “But I need to do it.”

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