Locals Know Best: Salt Lake City, Utah
Brad Wheeler is many things: a DJ at KUAA 99.9FM, a Salt Lake City radio station owned by Utah Arts Alliance, the program director and music director at the station, a blues musician who plays a mean harmonica and lists Willie Nelson and jazz saxophone legend Joe McQueen among the artists he's performed with, and teacher, estimating he's taught about 20,000 kids to play harmonica over the past few decades. Most of all, though, he's a die-hard lover of Salt Lake City, his hometown for decades. We checked in with him to get his recommendations on where to eat, shop, and listen to music, as well as where to go when you just wanna get outta dodge.
Eat your heart out
If there’s one thing Brad wants everyone to know, it’s that Utah has the greatest Mexican restaurant in the world, and not just for the food. “Ohio may have the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but we have the Red Iguana. More famous musicians have come through the doors there than I can tell you,” he says. The late Ramon Cardenas, whose parents founded the restaurant, is the Red Iguana's patron saint—and maybe Salt Lake’s music industry’s patron saint, too. As legend has it, his parents came from Mexico and opened the restaurant in 1985. While they ran it, he’d go out to concerts and if he liked the band, he’d pile them into his hot rod after the show and drive them over to the restaurant to chow. He placed ads all over the punk magazines. A cult classic was born. (Being featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" only furthered the cause.)
It’s so popular that when they opened a second one around the block in 2011, the lines were immediately just as long as the ones at the first. And its fans are so loyal, Brad says, that the day someone rammed his car into the restaurant, lines formed around the car.
But that’s not the only spot Brad insists on taking out-of-town guests. Caputo’s Deli is high on the list, but the Italian deli foods here aren’t even half of the allure. The shop has what is said to be the largest collection of artisanal chocolate bars in the country—over 300 and counting. And if you’re planning to be in town for a while, sign up for one of the chocolate tasting classes. But wait—there’s more. It’s the only place in the country to have not one, but two cheese caves for aging. As proof of just how superior they are, Brad notes that Cristiano Creminelli—a superstar in Italy for his salami—pinpointed Salt Lake City as his homebase not simply because the pigs he found roaming in Spanish Fork, a nearby town, were perfect for his meat, but also because Caputo’s caves were an ideal aging facility.
Paradise City for music lovers
Let’s be very clear: the Heavy Metal Shop sells far more than just heavy metal vinyl and CDs. Brad proclaims owner Kevin Kirk one of rock and roll’s greatest fans, and he’s curated such an excellent selection that word’s out all over the world. In the early 1990s, Alice Cooper and members of the metal band Slayer were spotted wearing the store’s branded t-shirts on a television interview and magazine cover, respectively. Kurt was flooded with orders—via phone. (It was the early '90s, after all.) Now people around the world sport his t-shirts and hoodies and musicians like the Athens alt-country band Drive By Truckers swing through when they’re in town to shop and even perform quick acoustic sets. There’s also Randy’s Record Shop, one of the top four oldest record stores west of the Mississippi and another one of Brad’s go-to’s for excellent vinyl--both familiar and obscure. Keep an eye out for the monthly $1 sale. “It’s unreal,” Brad, who's known to his listeners as "Bad Brad," assures.
That’s hardly the only reason Salt Lake City is a destination for music lovers. There are a number of options for anyone looking for live shows. Garage on Beck is a funky venue located in the middle of an oil refinery, just bear in mind: the concerts—which range from rock to jazz—tend to sell out and the parking lot is a very narrow stretch of land, so if you get there late, prepare to trek up to more than a mile from your car. When you arrive, though, you’ll be richly rewarded with the funeral potatoes, a deep-fried potato ordeal that involves jalapenos, cheddar cheese, bacon, scallions, and a corn flake crust. It’s a Mormon tradition gone off the deep end.
For something a bit more low-key, but not much, there are three downtown clubs all within three blocks of one another, and Brad endorses them each for their own individual reasons. Metro Music Hall is a mid-size venue that hosts local and national acts, the Depot is a retrofitted old Union Pacific depot that now hosts mostly DJs and rock shows, and the Complex is, not surprisingly, a complex of several venues hosting marquee name musicians as well as sports events.
Daytripping
Music is so deeply woven into Brad’s sense of being that he measures drive times by CD lengths. Salt Lake City is two and a half CDs from the canyons and rock formations that distinguish Capital Reef National Park. The mighty Moab is three or four CDs, depending on how fast you drive, and Zion National Park is five or six. And they’re both must-sees while in Utah. “They’re places that change the way you look at the world—they change you from the outside in,” he says, still in wonder of the landscapes despite visiting them for decades. Chalk it up to the incredibly varied landscape. “One minute you’re in an Alpine forest, like something in Switzerland, then the next minute it’s like a scene out of Dr. Seuss. Or Mars."
A bit closer to town is Snowbasin, a resort known for its 3,000 acres land, much of which is skiable. It’s actually, however, a year-round destination with swimming, concerts, tram rides, and alpine slides in the warmer months. Regardless of the weather, Brad recommends stopping off at the Shooting Star Saloon on your drive to the resort. It's the oldest bar west of the Mississippi and it proudly stays true to its vintage roots. You’ll find burgers cooked on electric griddles, a jukebox with vinyl records, and more. Those interested in older history should head about 30 minutes east for a day in Park City and explore its mining legacy.
And if you’re if even older history is more your speed, the scene is pretty much primordial at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Tens of thousands of years ago it was a tremendous saline lake and today, with the water gone, it’s one of the flattest places on the planet, a fantasy playground for bicyclists, kiteboarders and hot rod drivers. (“On a clear day, you can see the curvature of the earth,” says Brad.) Not too far is Danger Cave, an archaeological site that Brad, who studied archeology, loves to recommend. Some of the oldest weavings in the world were found there. It all just adds to the mysterious glory of the place.
“It just feels like you’re in a Fleetwood Mac video—you're just out there where there’s nothing,” he says. “It’s big and flat and all out there.” Pick up some sandwiches from Caputo’s and make a day of it.
