Lucky 13 Salt Lake City: Firefighters' Burger Bar

Lucky 13 is a 21+ burger bar and grill at 135 W 1300 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84115, across the street from the Ballpark TRAX stop and Smith’s Ballpark. It is open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., and the kitchen takes its last order at midnight. Order the Celestial Burger ($18): house-smoked bacon, grilled onions, cheddar and house barbecue sauce on 7 oz of fresh local chuck. That burger earned Lucky 13 its ticket to the 2012 World Food Championships, where the team went on to win the burger category with a competition-only recipe.

Lucky 13 Salt Lake City at a glance: address, hours and the 21+ rule

Lucky 13 is a bar, not a family restaurant: it admits guests 21 and over only, and every guest needs a valid ID. I checked the address, hours and menu on the restaurant’s official site on October 29, 2026.

Map of Lucky 13 at 135 W 1300 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84115, in the Ballpark neighborhood next to the Ballpark TRAX station and Smith’s Ballpark. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)

How to get to Lucky 13 from downtown Salt Lake City

Take TRAX to the Ballpark stop; Lucky 13 is across the street. By car, leave I-15 at the 1300 South exit. The bar sits just off it, next to Smith’s Ballpark, home of the Salt Lake Bees (KUTV, Roadtrippers). On a Bees game night, the burger and the ballgame are a short walk apart, and I’d leave the car at home.

A Green Line TRAX train to the airport at Ballpark station, the light-rail stop across the street from Lucky 13 in Salt Lake City (September 2016). (Photo: 小田原 (Odawara), CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51611842)

Smith’s Ballpark, home of the Salt Lake Bees, seen from West 1300 South: Lucky 13 sits on the same street, a short walk away (October 2016). (Photo: An Errant Knight, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80831316)

Can kids go to Lucky 13?

No. The original Lucky 13 does not admit anyone under 21. Families should head to Lucky’s Iron Door Roadhouse in West Jordan, the sister restaurant with a 21+ bar side, a family-friendly side and the same burgers (see below).

The Lucky 13 burger: what makes it different

Every Lucky 13 burger starts with 7 oz of fresh, 100% local ground chuck on a bun baked daily, with French fries on the side. That is the official menu’s wording. Co-founder Jason Stucki said much the same to Chew and Chat in 2012: ‘We’re known for our fresh, never-frozen beef, and our house-smoked bacon’ (Chew and Chat).

The house-smoked bacon technique

Lucky 13 buys smoked bacon, then smokes it a second time in-house. Then-chef Mason Ohms put it plainly in January 2013: ‘We bring in smoked bacon for the burger, but we then smoke it again in-house’ (Utah Stories). The current menu still says the bacon is ‘Smoked In-House Daily with Hickory and Apple wood’. Ohms is a 2013 name, and I could not find who runs the kitchen in 2026. The bacon, though, is the reason to come here rather than to any other bar with a flat-top.

Lucky 13 menu and prices in 2026

A plain hamburger costs $12 at Lucky 13. Specialty burgers run from $15.50 to $19.50, and the two giants cost $40, all before Utah sales tax. Every price below comes from the official online menu, checked on October 29, 2026.

Lucky 13 burger prices in 2026: from the $12 Hamburger to the $40 Bear Burger and Big Benny, before Utah sales tax (official menu, October 29, 2026). (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from the Lucky 13 official menu (https://www.lucky13slc.com/menu))

On a budget, the $16 House-Smoked Bacon Cheeseburger is the cheapest way to taste the bacon this kitchen is known for.

Which burger to order at Lucky 13

Order the Celestial Burger on a first visit. It is the house calling card and the burger that qualified Lucky 13 for the 2012 World Food Championships (Utah Stories). The double-smoked bacon leads, with grilled onions, cheddar and barbecue sauce behind it.

The Celestial Burger: the house signature

The Celestial Burger ($18) is a bacon-cheddar-barbecue burger built around the bacon Lucky 13 smokes itself. That is why I’d pick it over the Pigpen or the Ring of Fire. Those two pile on ham, peppers and more. The Celestial keeps the focus on the one ingredient the kitchen finishes in-house.

The Nut Butter Burger: peanut butter and bacon

The Nut Butter Burger ($17) pairs house-smoked bacon, peanut butter and cheddar on the beef patty. It reads like a dare. The logic holds, though: salt and smoke against rich, faintly sweet peanut butter. It’s my second-visit pick, once the Celestial is out of the way.

The Smoked Pastrami and Swiss: Lucky 13’s take on the Salt Lake City style

Lucky 13’s Smoked Pastrami and Swiss ($19.50) is the menu’s nod to the local style. Salt Lake City’s signature burger is the pastrami burger, popularized by Crown Burgers (founded 1978), with pink fry sauce on the table, as our Salt Lake City burger guide explains. Lucky 13 works in a different lane. It is a bar burger whose identity is house-smoked bacon, and pastrami is one option among fifteen. The menu does not say whether the pastrami is made in-house, so I can’t tell you.

Pastrami on a burger has traveled beyond Utah. In Denver, Crown Burgers on S Colorado Blvd serves a pastrami-topped Royal Burger; its founder, George Brokalakis, came through Salt Lake City in 1967 before opening it. That story is in my guide to the best burgers in Denver.

Are there vegetarian burgers at Lucky 13?

Not that I could confirm. The official menu says every burger uses 7 oz of ground chuck, so the Fungus Amongus is a beef burger topped with mushrooms, not a vegetarian one. If you need a veggie patty or a gluten-free bun, call 801-487-4418 before you go.

The Big Benny and the Bear Burger: Lucky 13’s giant burgers

The Big Benny is Lucky 13’s foot-tall burger: 28 oz of beef with house-smoked bacon, ham, cheddar, Swiss, caramelized onions and Lucky 13 sauce, for $40. The Bear Burger, also $40, is the spicy one. It has 14 oz of beef with Belizean habanero purée, grilled cheese sandwiches built into the stack, caramelized onions, jalapeños and habaneros. Some third-party sites swap the specs of the two; the figures here come from the official menu.

Beef per burger at Lucky 13: 7 oz for a standard burger, 14 oz for the Bear Burger and 28 oz for the foot-tall Big Benny, four times the standard patty. (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from the Lucky 13 official menu (https://www.lucky13slc.com/menu))

Do the math before you laugh at the Big Benny. Split between two people, it is $20 each for 14 oz of beef, twice the patty of a $18 Celestial. If you are sharing, it is the best value on the menu.

The Lucky 13 Big Benny challenge

Lucky 13 is known for an eating challenge built around its giant burgers, but I could not confirm the current rules. Third-party sites describe a one-hour challenge with a $200 cash prize. They disagree on which burger and sides you must finish, and the challenge does not appear on the official pages I checked on October 29, 2026. Ask your server before you commit to 28 oz of beef.

Who founded Lucky 13: two firefighters and a partner

Lucky 13 was co-founded by Jason Stucki and Ron Lay, two Salt Lake City firefighters, with Rob Dutton as their partner (Utah Stories, Chew and Chat, KSL). By 2013, KSL was calling Stucki and Lay retired firefighters. The latest sources naming the three as owners date from 2012 and 2013, so I can’t confirm who owns the bar in 2026, and none of them spells out Dutton’s role.

The 2009 grand opening and the 1962 Ford tractor

Lucky 13 held its grand opening in 2009, according to the restaurant’s about page. For the occasion, Jason Stucki and his brother restored a 1962 Ford 4000 tractor and parked it outside, and it is still the bar’s mascot. The date fits Chew and Chat’s November 2012 note that the bar had been ‘in business just over three years’. One online snippet mentions an earlier tavern the founders bought in 2003; I could not confirm it, and it conflicts with the official 2009 date.

A 1963 Ford 4000 tractor at an antique machinery show in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: the same model line as Lucky 13’s restored 1962 mascot (illustrative photo, not taken at Lucky 13). (Photo: Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=121805411)

Lucky 13 and the 2012 World Food Championships

Lucky 13 won the burger category at the first World Food Championships, held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on November 1–4, 2012 (Chew and Chat). The team qualified after Salt Lake City Weekly named Lucky 13 Best Burger of Salt Lake City in 2012 (KSL). The winning entry was not on the menu. It was a Spicy Candied Bacon Cajun Burger: a blackened patty, caramelized bacon, roasted red pepper aioli and A-1 sauce, made with ingredients the competition supplied.

The category win paid $10,000, and second place at the Final Table added another $10,000: $20,000 in all. KSL called Lucky 13 the ‘World Burger Champion’ in January 2013. The World Food Championships website no longer shows its 2012 archive, so these results rest on the press coverage cited here. The restaurant and a 2019 developer release also call it the ‘Best Burger in Utah’, but neither names the poll or the year, so I report that as their claim, not as fact.

Lucky’s Iron Door Roadhouse in West Jordan: the all-ages option

Lucky’s Iron Door Roadhouse is Lucky 13’s sister restaurant in West Jordan, with a 21+ bar side, a family-friendly side and the same burgers (FOX13, OnlyInYourState). It grew out of the expansion announced on August 1, 2019, for the Jordan Landing redevelopment. KUTV reported then that it would be a ‘Lucky 13 Bar and Grill’; it opened around early 2020 as Lucky’s Iron Door Roadhouse. Directories list it at 3754 W Center View Way, West Jordan, UT 84084, phone 801-878-9439. I could not confirm its 2026 hours on its own site, so call before you drive out with kids.

Is Lucky 13 worth the trip?

Yes, if you are 21 or older and want a bar burger with a point of view. Come for the double-smoked bacon, not the novelty giants, unless you are sharing. I have not rated Lucky 13. This profile draws on the official menu, the restaurant’s own pages and local press, not a scored visit, and we only rate places we have reviewed in person. For the local pastrami burger and fry sauce, read our Salt Lake City burger hub. If you are driving on through the Intermountain West, our burgers in Boise hub is the next stop. Every other city is in the Burger Breton restaurants section.

Lucky 13 Salt Lake City FAQ

Who owns Lucky 13 in Salt Lake City? Lucky 13 was co-founded by firefighters Jason Stucki and Ron Lay with partner Rob Dutton, according to 2012–2013 press. I could not confirm the 2026 ownership.

Is Lucky 13 Salt Lake City 21 and over? Yes. The original Lucky 13 admits guests 21 and over only, with valid ID for everyone. For an all-ages option, Lucky’s Iron Door Roadhouse in West Jordan has a family-friendly side.

What is the best burger at Lucky 13? The Celestial Burger ($18 on October 29, 2026): house-smoked bacon, grilled onions, cheddar and house barbecue sauce. It is the house signature and the burger that qualified Lucky 13 for the 2012 World Food Championships.

How big is the Big Benny burger? The Big Benny is one foot tall and carries 28 oz of beef, plus house-smoked bacon, ham, cheddar, Swiss, caramelized onions and Lucky 13 sauce. It costs $40.

What is the Lucky 13 challenge and how much do you win? Third-party sites describe a one-hour challenge built around the giant burgers with a $200 cash prize, but the details differ between sources and the official pages don’t list it. Ask the staff for the current rules.

When did Lucky 13 open, and did it win a world burger championship? Lucky 13 held its grand opening in 2009. In November 2012 it won the burger category at the first World Food Championships in Las Vegas, taking home $20,000 in total.

What are Lucky 13’s hours, and is the kitchen open late? Lucky 13 is open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. The kitchen takes last orders at midnight, the bar at 1 a.m., and Sunday brunch runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Is Lucky’s Iron Door Roadhouse the same as Lucky 13? It is the sister restaurant in West Jordan and serves the same burgers, but it has a family-friendly side as well as a 21+ bar side.

How do I get to Lucky 13 from downtown Salt Lake City? Take TRAX to the Ballpark stop; Lucky 13 is right across from the station. By car, use the 1300 South exit off I-15.