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This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
This is a real classic. It's the Rio Grande Café in the Rio Grande train station at 4th West and 3rd South in Salt Lake City. In 2011, this Mexican restaurant will be celebrating 30 years.
It all started in Park City when Pete Henderson met Jean, his wife-to-be, while working at the Utah Coal and Lumber Mexican restaurant. He was a cook and Jean waited tables. They fell in love and took their natural talent and appreciation for the restaurant business and opened the Rio Grande Café in downtown Salt Lake City.
This was in 1981 and was quite a progressive move since they were one of the first businesses to open on the west side.
Pete has a real connection to providing a quality product at a reasonable price. Some of the regulars dine at Rio up to four times per week. Therefore, it's important for Pete to be price sensitive and have a friendly-family atmosphere. After being in business for 30 years, his tenured staff has seen the restaurant pass to the next generation.
This has to be one of the first restaurants I remember as a kid that displayed artwork from local Utah artists. Here's the catch. The local artists can charge a good price because it doesn't cost them to hang the art, and Pete doesn't take a commission, so the deal is passed directly to you.
The well-known Mexican food at Rio Grande, like the homemade salsa, biggest cheese enchiladas in town or the carnitas, has received every recognition you can imagine from Utah's Top 100 to "Best Family Restaurant." They're also adding new items that have already received the thumbs up, like the halibut tacos.
Besides the homey, old-fashioned feeling … if the jukebox doesn't give you a time warp. . . nothing will. Bill Bailey has been adding old 45 records to this beautiful machine for years. All you have to do to hear classic tunes is drop a quarter in the machine, which only adds to the whole experience of Salt Lake's classic Rio Grande Café.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
