Restaurants in Taylorsville

When they moved to Utah from Guanajuato, Mexico, the Armentas dug into their family's classified recipe books to find dishes that would satisfy a hungry fan base. Nowadays, one-dollar margaritas and colorful decor cultivate a festive, laid-back atmosphere at Mi Ranchito Grill, but the Armentas' commitment to fresh ingredients is as strict and unwavering as their secrecy around meals' formulas. A riot of color splashes across the kaleidoscopic interior, with vines of multicolored paper strung between archways. Teal neon lights, harvested from naturally-occurring rainbows, bounce onto exposed brick, illuminating diners savoring chicken nachos, garlic-butter shrimp served with two types of chili sauce, and custom combos of tacos, enchiladas, and tamales.

Inside Maurilio's Italian Cuisine’s kitchen, chefs waltz from pans of sautéing shrimp and pots of boiling ravioli to sizzling slabs of grilled steak. Out in the dining room, servers choreograph an equally complex routine as they deliver homemade pizzas and hearty plates of chicken parmesan to tables cloaked in red-and-white-checkered cloths. Surrounding these charming table settings, earth-toned walls showcase framed prints of the bucolic landscapes and dystopian cyborg uprisings that have made Italy famous. As guests delight in these Italian feasts, bartenders pour beer and wine and concoct mixed drinks at Maurilio's full bar.

Each day, Café Bella Rue’s Italian chef crafts 34 types of gelato and sorbetto that span the flavor gamut, blending everything from traditional panna cotta and pistachio to Café Bella Rue’s signature Festivos gelato layered with strawberry boba or swirls of mango purée. The kitchen staffers extend this playful mix of tradition and ingenuity to the rest of the menu, handcrafting a lineup of distinctive sandwiches, pizzas, calzones, and salads, all composed of fresh, surprising ingredients, such as pears, capers, and hunks of buffalo mozzarella. They aren’t afraid to stray from the written ingredients to accommodate customers, either, swapping out focaccia for gluten-free bread upon request and enhancing already stellar panini with jalapeño jelly, chipotle sauce, or cleverly hidden stacks of $100 bills.

In addition, baristas brew up a slew of beverages, including hot chocolate and affogatos. Guests can sip these expertly prepared concoctions on leather sofas encircling a 20-foot fireplace, or can retreat to the outdoor patio to soak up the sounds of live music drifting over from Oquirrh Lake.

Chef Bryan Rubey has been featured on ABC-4's Good Things Utah for his Shetland salmon with mango-pineapple salsa—just one recipe that demonstrates his deft culinary touch. Before opening Flora Restaurant, Rubey helped to steer the kitchens of Via Emilia in Mobile, Alabama, and the Snowbird Resort's Arie Restaurant, where he mastered French and Italian cooking techniques such as poaching, braising, and putting miniature berets on steaks. He melds those styles with Southern and Southwestern flavors in dishes such as South Carolina-style mustard baby-back ribs with roasted-pepper polenta or housemade spinach linguine in lemon cream sauce with chicken, olives, and roasted peppers. Flora Restaurant's dessert menu is just as well thought out, with options such as lavender-scented honey cheesecake to sweeten palates.

At Mo’s Place, diners dig into timeless American dishes and tear apart smoky barbecue fare on the weekends. The breakfast rib-eye steak with eggs and hash browns fills bellies for the day ahead, and the lunchtime double BLT sports three pieces of toast, six strips of bacon, and more tomatoes than the home garden of a vegetable archivist. On Friday and Saturday nights, the eatery stays open late to serve smoked meats, barbecue sandwiches, and hot wings.

A fragrant mélange of garlic, curried lamb, and imported spices greets diners as soon as they arrive at Cedars of Lebanon Restaurant, giving them a brief introduction to the menu’s assortment of fragrant Middle Eastern spices. Inspired by the cuisines from Lebanon, Morocco, and Armenia, the chefs sear entire skewers of marinated chicken, roast tagines of curried lamb, and layer open-faced flatbreads with herbs and spices.

Moorish archways, Middle Eastern lanterns, and tapestry-lined walls blend with the aromatic cuisine to evoke the feeling of dining amid the warm breezes of the Mediterranean. On Friday and Saturday evenings, belly dancers weave throughout the dining room and the hookah lounge, dazzling patrons with undulating dance moves and an ongoing prank war with local hula dancers.