After a long day of hiking we needed some good food to fill us up. So we headed down to Riff Raff on the Rio for tasty burgers.

Riff Raff on the Rio is along US 160 on the east end of Pagosa Springs. We turned on East Pagosa Street at the gas station at the entrance to town, and Riff Raff on the Rio was the second building on the right. We had initially visited this location a few years ago when it was a “Mountain Mex” place called Border Rio. We were sad to see that Border Rio was gone, but were looking forward to Riff Raff’s menu.

The Riff Raff Brewing Company, whose main restaurant is not far down the street, owns the Rio location so we had to try out their own flagship beers. This location is part of the brewery, and when walking in we could see into their brewing room at the entrance. Taylor ordered a glass of their Plebeian Porter to have with the meal. It was a nice chocolatey beer with hints of caramel.

We started off with an order of potachos and cheese curds. The potachos are sweet potato fries that are covered in jack cheese, scallions, and a tequila chorizo sausage. Somehow the fries stayed crispy even when smothered. The garlic lime sour cream was excellent. The potachos were great, but surprisingly the cheese curds ended up being the real star. The cheese curds are lightly fried cheese curds with a chipotle aioli sauce. The curds were soft and stretchy inside with a nice crispy outside. They were so delicious, and the aioli sauce was great!

For our burgers, Michelle ordered the Beer-BQ burger, and Taylor got the jalapeno cream cheese burger. The Beer-BQ has a very flavorful burger patty topped with a healthy amount of bacon that’s doubled stacked. On top of that is a spicy, tangy Beer-BQ sauce and onions. All this was on a nice soft bun. The JCB, or jalapeno cream cheese burger, has a perfectly cooked burger topped with cream cheese and roasted jalapenos that add a slight kick. The fries are amazing. They have the proper balance of crispy outside and soft potato interior.

Riff Raff on the Rio was a great place for some burgers and beers. The next time we are in town we’ll make sure to drop by again to try out more of their menu.

Google Maps Link: Riff Raff on the Rio