Salt Flats Cafe
- Alex Cabrero
- Jan 11, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 3
(Wendover) Most people leaving Wendover usually have a sad look on their face. Casinos are good at taking your money. However, one way to turn that frown upside down is to visit the Salt Flats Cafe before leaving town. If you like Mexican food, this is the safest bet around. Don't let the outside appearances fool you. When I bring some friends here for the first time, I usually get the "are you sure?" questions and looks. Yes, it looks like a hole-in-the-wall trailer. But many of you know as well as I do that's where you find the best food. It used to be located off Exit 4 on I-80 in the gas station just as you got to Wendover, but it moved a few years ago to its own building near the Wendover Airport.
Once inside, you can smell the Mexican food cooking. It's awesome. There are tables and booths and generally you can sit anywhere you want. There are two rooms and plenty of space for larger groups. I took my friend Mark Wetzel here during a work trip. It was his first time and since he loves Mexican food, he said he would like to be the judge as to whether or not it's as good as I claimed. That's Mark in the photo above looking at the menu.
The menu itself has all the typical Mexican food you can find anywhere else, but here it just tastes better. Authentic. It's run by the Escobedo family as the menu cover says and that alone sounds like they know what they're doing. Burritos, enchiladas, tostadas, rice and beans, quesadillas, etc. They have it all. The chips and salsa you get before the mean are seriously the best and they offer you free refills of it! There's a dish called the Pancho Special I always get. Wetzel got it, too. It's a chile verde burrito, steak tostada, and steak enchilada with rice and beans. You won't be disappointed.
While you're waiting for your food, check out the photos on the walls throughout the cafe. They're all of racing teams and racing cars that go for land speed records at the nearby Bonneville Salt Flats. The Salt Flats (where the restaurant gets it name) is known around the world where racing teams try to set records on the 30,000+ acres of salt crust. Depending on the classification of your car or motorcycle, some cars hit 300+ miles an hour. Speed Week is an annual popular and impressive event to watch. Have you ever seen the movie The Fastest Indian? It's about a guy name Burt Munro who went for the landspeed record on an Indian motorcycle. Munro is played by Anthony Hopkins in the movie. There's a signed picture of Munro on the wall here. It's definitely worth checking out.
Chances are you won't get to see all the pictures before your food is ready. This crew makes it fast and they make it good. As soon as my Pancho Special came out, it was time to sit down and chow. I couldn't wait to see if Wetzel agreed with my recommendation that this place is the best.
All it took was one bite for Wetzel to say "Mmmmm." Yes, he agrees. The food here is really good. He also says it's definitely top 5 in Utah. There wasn't much talking or working on our assignment with all this delicious food in front of us. The crew kept the drinks full, too.
It's important to note this restaurant is cash only. Dollars and pesos are good here, as long as its in cash. Not a credit card. Not a debit card. The workers here prefer you to have cash on hand. There isn't an ATM, so make sure you have cash before you come. I'm with a credit union instead of a bank and credit unions ATM's don't charge processing fees when its credit union to credit union, even if you belong to another credit union. Instead of getting cash out of a casino ATM, I usually go the the Greater Nevada Credit Union on 900 Alpine Street just over the border in West Wendover, Nevada, when I'm out here. No charge withdrawals.
Now comes the fun part with the cash. After we cleaned our plates and it was time to pay, the server will usually come up to you and tell you how much it is. It's usually an even number, sometimes a tad high, usually about right, and sometimes lower than you thought. One time I came here with family and the guy suggested meals for 11 of us was $80. That's a steal. You just give him cash, leave a generous tip, and be on your way. However, when Wetzel and I visited, we had our laptops and looked official. When we paid after this meal, it was the first time in probably a dozen visits to the Salt Flats Cafe that we got an actual bill that included dollars AND cents. And a receipt?!?! I hope they didn't change. I think it's because of our laptops and we were working. I like the cash suggestion style a lot better. I'll have to let you know the next time I go and don't look official. No matter what, I will be back for sure. It's my food stop almost every time I visit Wendover.
ADDRESS:
85 Skyhawk Drive, Wendover, UT 84083
WEBSITE:
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