After arriving in Salt Lake City in time for a late lunch, we visited both the state capitol building and the nerve center for the LDS church: Temple Square. Both were striking in different ways. The capitol building was pristine after a recent restoration and is set imposingly on a hill at the top of State Street.
Temple Square is at the foot of the hill with the massive LDS offices on one side and the SLC temple in the center surrounded by extensive grounds. Spiritually it felt like the massive Buddist temple complex I visited in Hangzhou, China in March: blank. Yet alongside this spiritual blank was a powerful sense of religion.
Then there is the power differential in the city. I don’t know exactly what I was picking up, but it ‘felt’ crystal clear that the power in the city centered on Temple Square rather than up the road at the capitol building. Both were visually beautiful, but there was a weight and control around the LDS grounds that was palpable. Megan wanted to leave from the moment we drove underneath the Square into a parking garage maze. I too felt uncomfortable.
The security differences just might back up our instincts. At the capitol, we saw no visible security cameras and wandered into the unlocked Senate gallery as well as several committee hearing rooms I would have expected to be secured at 6 pm in the evening.
Contrast this to the situation down the hill. Security cameras were both inside and outside buildings at Temple Square along with plenty of dark blue blazers at strategic points. Some of the blazers (or an occassional pinstripe) were on older men lounging in this garden or that plaza. But even the older men paid too much attention those of us wandering around to be just well-dressed visitors. Again, Megan picked this up too: saying she felt all the men in suits were watching her.
Less sinister or just strange was the food. Lunch took us to Pat’s BBQ. What space was left for dinner we filled at Kyoto – a traditional Japanese restaurant in a quiet neighborhood with sweet fresh tuna.
Pat’s serves quite respectable ribs, pulled pork, and brisket. I would have liked to try their chicken but they’d sold out by the time we arrived. The old office/industrial building that houses Pat’s is a maze with the take-out counter on the street side and a hall tunneling back into the building to the dining room at the back and a patio where the alley should be. All indications suggest massive crowds for BBQ and live music on the weekends.
The location doesn’t lend itself to easy discovery so something else (the award winning BBQ or the scene) is what brings customers. A gravel lot reserved for customers is half a block away if you can’t find street parking.
