A couple of days ago I went to go see my hairdresser for an overdue haircut. She and I have been together for over 16 years so we bypass all the pleasantries when we see each other and get straight to the good stuff.
“Did you hear about the Casa Bonita restaurant in Colorado?” she asked as she swished the black gown around my shoulders and secured it around my neck. Her husband is a chef, so I figured this had something to do with him. Also, her daughter lives in Colorado. I told her, no, I hadn’t heard of it.
“Have you seen South Park?” she asked. I’m one of the few people on the planet who hasn’t watched a single episode of the animated sitcom, not even a solid minute of it, so I told her no.
She then went on to regale me with all the details. When I got home later that night, I looked it up, and lo and behold The New York Times wrote an op-ed about it. This restaurant was real, even though it sounded like something out of a, well, animated sitcom.
What is the Casa Bonita restaurant and what does it have to do with South Park?
In season seven, episode 11 of South Park, Kyle announces that he is going to Casa Bonita to celebrate his birthday with his friends. Although the 52,000-square-foot restaurant looks like a fictional monument on screen, it is actually real. Located in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, Casa Bonita is as real as your local TGI Friday, but on steroids.
The building’s pepto bismol pink exterior, eclectic interior, and awful food (it was given the nickname Casa NoEata) have become something of a fable in Colorado, and thanks to South Park, now everyone knew about it. (Well, those who watch the show, anyway, unlike me). As it turns out, one of the creators of South Park, Trey Parker, celebrated his birthday there when he was a kid, like Kyle.
In 2020, Casa Bonita went bankrupt after being hit by hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic. Gone were the buffet-style steamed refried beans, enchiladas, and tacos. Gone were the waterfalls, cliff divers, puppet shows, Black Bart’s Cave filled with fake gold and silver mines, and the sheriff who chases the person in a gorilla costume around the restaurant.
Well, that is until Trey Parker and Matt Stone stepped in.
Who are the famous owners of the Casa Bonita?
Upon hearing that the Casa Bonita had gone bankrupt, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, co-creators of South Park, decided they’d rather go broke than let this restaurant go under. The pair decided to invest their all into getting this restaurant back on its feet. However, this time with better food and more stringent sanitation standards.
Infamous for its tasteless food (everything was steamed — everything), unsanitary surfaces (spills on the carpet hardened it into practical cement), and eye-popping health hazards (in addition to grease-coated ventilation systems, there were numerous electrical hazards, including 200 amps of power that were stationed directly next to the underground cave where swimmers exited after diving) Casa Bonita needed some improvements if it were to survive.
Thankfully, Parker and Stone had money to throw at this problem.
How much did it cost to rebuild the Casa Bonita?
What started out as a $10 million endeavor quickly grew to much more than that, as Parker and Stone realized just how much elbow grease was needed to fix this crumbling facility. “We thought it would be $10 million,” said Stone.
Those renovation and restoration costs eventually capped out at $40 million. The pair’s efforts to keep everything the same was the most expensive aspect. “We could have rebuilt this twice as big, for half as much money, but we spent so much restoring it, like a piece of art,” said Stone. “It doesn’t stink like chlorine anymore.”
“And the food is excellent,” added Parker.
Meet Dana Rodriguez, the new executive chef of Casa Bonita
Serving as one of the biggest Mexican restaurants in the world, the Casa Bonita requires a chef who can turn the restaurant’s rotten reputation around. Enter Dana Rodriguez, a six-time James Beard Award nominee.
Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Rodriguez immigrated to the U.S. in 1998 where she applied for her first job at — you guessed it —Casa Bonita, only to be turned down. Now, 25 years later, she’s running the place. Or at least the kitchen.
Previously void of ovens or range tops (everything was steamed, remember), the Casa Bonita now sports a stainless-steel kitchen whose cooks will make everything from scratch. “One hundred and ninety-eight gallons of mole sauce will be made for the chicken, every night,” wrote Matt Richtel from the New York Times. “Also: enchiladas with red and green sauce; green chile-braised brisket; chile relleno, with vegan and vegetarian options, served with refried beans (not from a can, thank you very much) and rice; and of course, sopaipillas with honey.”
Now a 110-person kitchen, the Casa Bonita is officially ready to serve you food that actually tastes good.
What is the opening date for the Casa Bonita?
At present, the Casa Bonita doesn’t have an official opening date. Instead, it has a bunch of soft openings and beta-openings for guests exclusively from the restaurant’s email list. According to the restaurant’s social media, it will “[open] with limited dinner hours. Our first guests will be pulled EXCLUSIVELY from our email list. No walk-ins.” Information on pricing and ticketing will be “coming soon.”
The restaurant will also introduce “soft openings” that will include a lottery system in which those selected have the chance to attend with their family and friends, according to 9News. Although the rumor is that celebrities will get dibs to see the restaurant first (as my hairdresser told me in her true gossipy fashion), a Lakewood police commander confirmed, “There will be no special opening event for celebrities, etc.”
After the soft openings are complete, the restaurant will open for three days at a limited capacity to those selected by a ticketing system. After that, it will open for dinner from Monday through Saturday. After that, it will eventually transition to seven days a week until it reaches the point where it can open all day on the weekends and eventually for lunch during the week. The process could take up to eight weeks.
Here is the restaurant’s website for more information, where you can sign up to be “among the first to experience Casa Bonita.”
