Lucy Cardenas, owner of Red Iguana
Restaurants

Lucy Cardenas

Owner, Red Iguana

Cardenas family Mexican food in Salt Lake City since 1965. Famous for the moles.

Salt Lake City, UT

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Services

  • Authentic Mexican Cuisine
  • Signature Moles
  • Catering & Delivery
  • Private Events (The Red Tree Room)
  • To-Go Orders

Lucy Cardenas owns Red Iguana in Salt Lake City. The recipes are her parents’. Ramon and Maria Cardenas started feeding Salt Lake in 1965 at Casa Grande downtown, then reopened as Red Iguana in 1985. Guy Fieri filmed there and later called it “the high-water mark to which I’ve measured all the other restaurants since.”

The moles are the thing people talk about. They make at least eight on a regular basis, including Mole Negro, Coloradito, and Mango. Cochinita Pibil and Tacos Don Ramon are on the regular menu.

Lucy and her husband Bill Coker run it with more than 150 employees across three locations and the Red Tree Room event space. Still Cardenas family owned.