Evening At The Apollo

No, I wasn't heading up to Harlem, I was jetting my way to Salt Lake City. I took an afternoon flight to the capitol of the Beehive state and arrived at 6pm. The original plan was to stop at the Red Iguana to get some Mexican food. The Red Iguana is a place that many locals rave about on Yelp.com and it has also been mentioned on Roadfood.com as well as being a segment on Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives.

A pattern has started to emerge where many of the places that I was thinking of going to have been shown on Triple D. At this point I would prefer to not go to a place that Guy Fieri has shown but those places do seem to have very favorable write-ups and seem quite interesting to try. On the other hand, one of my favorite shows that was on the Food Network, The Best of... was enjoyable to watch but their restaurant choices did not always lead to good food. That program was more interested in a good story than in good food. That is not to say that they didn't pick some really good places, but my experience was the food was good only about 50% of the time. Not that the other 50% meant the food was bad, but it really wasn't worth making an effort to go to.

Anyhoo, it was getting kind of late by the time I got my rental car and checked into the motel. It was only about 8pm local time but 10pm back home in New York. I decided to just stay close and go to Apollo Burgers which was right next to the motel. I walked over and ordered the Apollo Burger combo.

For those who don't know and I was one of them, Salt Lake City has a unique hamburger tradition. It all started with Crown Burgers which is still around and I still might go to, with a pastrami/burger creation. The hamburger is served with lettuce, tomato, onions, and topped with pastrami. Another custom out here is they serve their french fries with a fry sauce instead of ketchup. The fry sauce is kind of like a spicy Russian dressing.

I took the food back to my room so I could take some photos but they did not come out too clear. Instead of trying to get better pictures I ate the evidence instead. This is sometimes getting to be a problem. If I am too hungry or get excited about the food I will start eating before remembering that I was supposed to take a picture of it.


The Apollo Burger was pretty good. It was a char broiled 1/4 lb. patty with fresh lettuce, onions, and tomatoes on it. The pastrami was a nice touch to it. It wasn't the type of pastrami you would get at a good New York style deli but it added some nice saltiness to the sandwich. Overall it was a good meal and really filled me up. I would get it again but not really go out of my way for it. Definitely better than a McDonald's, Wendy's, or Burger King hamburger but that really isn't saying a whole lot either.