It
was nearly four years ago when 
The
Red Iguana Mexican restaurant has always posed two great challenges:
The first is getting a table; the second is which killer mole dish
to order. 
Very
few places in Salt Lake City, let alone the entire country, inspire
such reverence as Red Iguana. Many of you have sung its praises
to a clueless co-worker recently emerged from the underside of
a rock or posted your soliloquy on Yelp or Chowhound convincing
even more people to visit the colorful, if faded, enclave.
Now they've opened a new location, aptly named Red Iguana 2.
The new location doesn't serve as a diplomat
to some far-flung corner of our local culinary map. Rather, it
promises to alleviate the concentration of diners who gather daily
at the original location that's only a few blocks away. And everything
-- the electrifying look, the saturated flavor, and the universal
appeal of huge portions -- is very much intact in the new location
. 
"The
opening of Red Iguana 2 seems to have awakened dormant Red Iguana lovers,
like myself, who too-rarely visited the restaurant because of those
aforementioned wait times. At 11:45 a.m. on a recent Friday, there
was a half-hour wait to be seated for lunch at the new Red Iguana 2.
On a Monday and a Wednesday, there were 45-minute delays for dinner
seating. I’m convinced that if the Cardenas family—owners
of the Red Iguanas — built a half-dozen additional Red Iguana
restaurants, they’d still be mobbed. And indeed, there is a third
Red Iguana slated to open in the City Creek Center food court in March.
So I ask, what is it about Red Iguana that makes it so damned popular?" 
