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Amid the hustle and bustle that is De Anza Boulevard, a new "fast casual" restaurant is making a name for itself in Cupertino--the Rio Adobe Southwestern Cafe. Patrons who live and work in the surrounding neighborhood keep the place hopping from the time it opens at 11 a.m. until the last person leaves--usually around 9 p.m. But owner Jim Cargill says, "My philosophy is if people are hungry we'll serve them. We never turn on the closed sign if people are still in the restaurant."
Rio Adobe is located on De Anza Boulevard at McClellan Road. Cargill says there are approximately 2,400 homes within a five-block radius of the cafe. That fact is apparently good for business because, he says, "We're living on word-of-mouth." He says, "About 85 percent of my business comes from repeat customers."
They come for Cargill's New Mexicoinfluenced menu. He describes his fare as a bit Spanish combined with traditional Native American and Mexican flavors. "I do a lot of slow cooking," he says, "which results in a melting pot of ingredients."
To achieve this, Cargill arrives at the Rio Adobe at about 7 a.m.
That's when all the fresh ingredients used to make tacos and burritos are chopped and grated.
This is a task very familiar to Cargill because his first restaurant job, at 16, was chopping and grating ingredients at a Mexican restaurant in his native San Diego.
While attending Grossmont College in El Cajon, Cargill started a weekend catering business. He was clearly bitten by the "foodie" bug, so he majored in hospitality and culinary arts. After moving north, Cargill continued his catering business, most notably at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. He was also a chef at the Chart House in Los Gatos.
But Cargill learned a bit at his grandmother's knee, too. She was a tribal elder with the Ojibwa Tribe, which is why there's a Native American touch to the dishes he serves. One such dish is "Hopi Blue Corn Enchiladas." This recipe consists of blue corn tortillas served open face with roasted corn and topped with red or green sauce and baked cheese. Or one can get it with "Christmas Sauce," a combination of both red and green sauces. It's a good example of how Cargill combines things he learned growing up with a progressive approach.
Rio Adobe serves meals on real plates, with real glassware and silverware. Besides environmental considerations, Cargill says, "Most of my clientele say it's so nice to eat on real plates. And the price point between real and paper shows real is more cost effective."
Rio Adobe opened about four months ago, so in some ways it is still evolving. For instance, Cargill is working with local artists to both display and sell some of their pieces. To add to the cafe's ambience, he's also planning to have a mural painted on one of its larger walls.
Once Cargill has the formula down in Cupertino, he'll likely expand. "My plan is to open a few more of these, particularly at airports, because there are no good options at airports," he says. "I can put out a made-to-order item as fast as McDonald's. I'd go head-to-head with them any day."
But Cargill says the real key to success is in the food and the way it's assembled. Since all the dishes are made fresh on the spot, Cargill says the bottom line is to "produce a quality meal that's also healthy. Then people will buy it."
Rio Adobe is at 10525 S. De Anza Blvd. Cupertino; 408.873.1600.
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Photograph by Cera Renault