Picture this: You’re strolling down North Temple Street in Salt Lake City, Utah, a long and steady road, sticky from the summer heat. Your stomach warbles like furious bird; you’re fiending for a bite to eat. Then, all of a sudden, you’re confronted with the face of a building that has a marquis jutting out from its front like something out of a dusty 50’s era cabaret. Caressing that sign is the establishment’s titular mascot, sculpted from bright-red neon wire: the red iguana. It’s a little retro, a little unassuming, and every night of the week you’ll find a queue of eager patrons curling around the block. Your stomach settles, you hop in line. This is the place to be.

Founded in 1985 by Ramon and Maria Cardenas and inherited by daughter Lucy Cardenas and her husband Bill Coker in 2005, The Red Iguana has had plenty of time to amass quite the cult following. The restaurant had a humble start (under 40 seats) and expanded every year thereafter. Today, there are two locations. Popular at its inception, and popular now, The Red Iguana survived pandemic closures without breaking a sweat (many thanks to its dedicated patrons) and has become a pillar of the community. When you hear a pedestrian in Salt Lake City say, “Let’s get Mexican food tonight.” someone familiar with the local parlance would translate the phrase to a tourist as “Let’s get Red Iguana.”

So what can you expect when you walk through the thin glass doors of The Red Iguana? You can expect to walk through a portal that will transport you right into the middle of the hustle and bustle of a Mexican street. Diners laugh and converse under warm string lights, surrounded by deep maroon adobe walls. Spanish music (classic and modern) plays over the loudspeakers, the aromas that swirl in the air arrest the spirit, and sizzling fajita trays fly above and around you like zipping alien saucers. It feels like you’ve been invited to a fiesta next door. There is energy, there is camaraderie, and there is flavor.

The dishes? Guacamole that’s as thrilling as any well guarded family secret should be, a rainbow of mouth-water mole offerings, and if you don’t have a soft spot for fish tacos quite yet, you certainly will after dining at the Red Iguana. Food here is pure spectacle.

The Cardenas family has been a culinary staple of Salt Lake City for what is now generations. One can write what they please but experiences are meant to be had, not read, so whenever you happen to be in the neighborhood, I urge you to pay a visit to the Iguana. It’s the best family reunion you’ll ever be a part of.

¡Vamos a fiestar!