A restaurateur evolved local and sustainable, adding a Southwest flair at the long-lived (and loved) Rio Grill.

Since Rio Grill’s founding in 1983, a lot has stayed the same. Their wood-burning grill and the locally sourced produce continue to be the main draws. Some menu items like the Chinese chicken salad remain popular menu items – even past the ’80s when many restaurants deemed that salad unfashionable.

“We really take care that our food is always great with clean flavors,” managing partner Tony Tollner says. “We were one of Earthbound Farm’s first bagged salad customers.”

Rio Grill’s current identity followed soon after, when it evolved into one of the first “cantina-style” restaurants in the area. It still served locally sourced food, of course, but this time it aimed for a Southwest flair. “We wanted to set ourselves apart from any other restaurants around here,” Tollner says.

He adds that while Southwest flavors aren’t unfamiliar to Californians, grilled items are often spiked with smokey and fruity Hatch or chipotle chilies or zesty citrus juices. But it was just interesting enough to win over locals, and then some. “Yes we have tourists,” Tollner says, “but a lot of the time we have the same tourists who drive Highway 1, going south or north, who always stop by Rio.”

It’s not just the occasional or even repeat passersby who make up the beating heart of Rio Grill. It’s also the locally sourced employees. “We have generations of families work with us,” says Tollner.

Full disclosure: Both Tollner’s son and daughter work for Downtown Dining, the parent company he co-owns, with partners in Palo Alto, of Rio Grill, Montrio Bistro and Tarpy’s Roadhouse. “Ha! They’re definitely not going through me – they’re going through the interview process same as anyone who applies,” Tollner says.

According to Tollner, it’s not bias that compels him to hire and retain those whose family history has been woven in Rio’s – it just happens that they’re hard workers. “I think people work with us because we treat our workers right, we pay them right and we respect them and their hard work,” he says.

Case in point: Rio Grill’s Executive Chef Eduardo Coronel, who started as a dishwasher in 2000. “They really respect what I love to do: making people happy and talking to customers,” Coronel says.

Tollner’s take on promoting from within: “I can read a stack of resumes and think a person is great – on paper. But I know our employees, I know they’re badass workers with bitchin’ personalities.”