Casa Bonita’s 50th birthday: From a $3.45 dinner to a $40 million renovation
For 50 years, a Pepto Bismol-pink tower has loomed giant over the Lakewood procuring heart marking the spot of the legendary Casa Bonita.
The tower is one thing of a beacon, calling to longtime followers and would-be diners with the promise of mariachi music, cliff divers, crispy sopapillas and the sort of enjoyable that evokes childlike pleasure.
Subsequent week will mark the fiftieth anniversary the day that Oklahoma Metropolis entrepreneur Invoice Waugh opened Denver’s Casa Bonita in a former Joslin’s division retailer. The restaurant was a part of a small chain that Waugh created in 1968. As we speak, it’s the final one standing.
Proper now, nevertheless, the one strategy to get into Casa Bonita is to enter a lottery and hope you obtain an invite by e mail to purchase tickets.
For some, 50 years means you’re over the hill. However followers will let you know that Casa Bonita is coming into its finest days but. The eatertainment venue reopened final June below the possession of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the native Coloradans who famously created the “South Park” TV present.
The constructing itself turned a historic landmark in 2015, however for many years prior it was an establishment not for its meals — which was notoriously horrible — however for its festive ambiance. The enterprise’s destiny was referred to as into query throughout the pandemic when it closed and the homeowners filed for chapter, spurring a wave of efforts to avoid wasting Casa Bonita.
Stone and Parker ponied up $3.1 million to purchase the constructing, recruited James Beard-nominated chef Dana “Loca” Rodriguez to reimagine the menu, and spent a not-so-small fortune restoring Casa Bonita to its glory days.
Locals spent the higher a part of two years counting down the times till the Mexico-themed eatery would reopen. So, in honor of its milestone, we’re counting down the numbers that assist inform its story.
March 25 … or is it March 27?
Opened in 1974, Casa Bonita is indisputably celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, however on precisely which day is up for debate.
On July 2, 1974, The Denver Publish ran a narrative about Casa Bonita citing its opening date as March 25. An article printed within the now-defunct Jefferson Sentinel confirms that date. On March 28, 1974, the newspaper ran a narrative concerning the opening, stating the restaurant opened three days prior on a Monday, which might have been March 25.
Nevertheless, Casa Bonita’s web site lists March 27 because the date it made its authentic debut.
The Publish’s 1974 story highlights how the meals has all the time been one thing of a talker. Reporters spoke to a neighborhood well being inspector, who debunked rumors that Casa Bonita was serving unapproved meat.
“We checked on a number of events, after getting many calls, and the meat is all from legit meat corporations that are below inspection … we have now no cause to consider there’s any malpractice there,” mentioned Jefferson County Well being Division’s director of environmental well being on the time.
$40 million
Stone and Parker advised The New York Instances that that was the value tag for fixing up the beloved venue. Renovations included relocating the divers’ exit from the pool; investing in kitchen tools like ovens and range tops; fixing infrastructure like leaky fuel traces and plumbing; and extra. Casa Bonita’s homeowners additionally paid to degree out the patio at WestFax Brewing Co. subsequent door.
“Have you ever ever seen ‘Kitchen Nightmares’? It’s the very, very worst a kind of you possibly can probably ever think about,” Parker advised The Denver Publish in 2022.
In 1974, the Jefferson Sentinel put estimates for the worth of the constructing someplace between $1.4 million and $2 million.
400,000 to 600,000
That’s how many individuals are reportedly nonetheless on the lottery waitlist to dine at Casa Bonita, in accordance with Denver 7. The station spoke with chef Rodriguez about how issues are going 9 months after opening, and it seems demand for a desk has not but let up.
“I believe everyone’s completely happy and excited to see what the brand new homeowners have achieved,” Rodriguez advised the station.
40,000 to 52,000
A number of tales from 1974 put Casa Bonita’s footprint at 40,000 sq. toes. Later stories say it encompasses 52,000 sq. toes of actual property. The consensus then and now’s that the restaurant can maintain as much as 1,100 diners.
2,500
Rodriguez advised Denver 7 within the aforementioned interview that, on a mean day, the kitchen makes 200 kilos of dough that will get fried into about 2,500 sopapillas.
2003
On Nov. 12, 2003, the “South Park” episode that made Casa Bonita a world sensation aired and launched TV viewers to “the Disneyland of Mexican eating places.”
Within the episode, Kyle Broflovski plans to have fun his birthday with a visit to Casa Bonita. He can invite as much as three pals, and when Eric Cartman doesn’t make the unique visitor record, he locks Butters in an underground bunker to safe a spot. Cartman enjoys all of the signature Casa Bonita actions, rapid-fire, earlier than being escorted out by police.
550+
As Casa Bonita ready to reopen in 2023, administration sought to rent greater than 550 folks to workers it. That’s not far off from the variety of folks Waugh wanted initially. Based on the Jefferson Sentinel, “Of the 300 anticipated to be employed by the restaurant, about 250 can be highschool age.”
The restaurant is presently hiring for positions within the kitchen, on its leisure workers and extra.
$30
Upon reopening, Casa Bonita made the controversial resolution to nix tipping and as an alternative pay servers and bartenders a flat hourly wage of $30.
30
The restaurant’s signature function is a 30-foot waterfall modeled after the cliffs of Acapulco, Mexico. Based on our earlier reporting, it pumps 26,427,000 gallons of water per 12 months to produce its 14-foot-deep pool into which cliff divers and actors plunge throughout the exhibits.
$4.45
Again within the day, it price diners lower than $5 to benefit from the all-you-can-eat Deluxe Dinner at Casa Bonita, in accordance with an previous, undated menu from the Denver Public Library. That dinner included all of the restaurant’s Mexican specialties, from refried beans, corn chips and Spanish rice to a tamale with chili, beef tacos, cheese enchiladas, guacamole and sopaipillas – plus “ALL THE SECONDS chances are you’ll want can be served … .”
The library despatched us a number of iterations of the menu, all of that are undated, however $4.45 was the most cost effective value for the home particular. Nevertheless, it’s not the unique value. When Casa Bonita opened in 1974, “no meal, whether or not Mexican or American, exceeds $3.45,” the Jefferson Sentinel reported. Over time, the deluxe deal elevated to $5.75, $5.95, $7.99, $13.79 and $14.49, and perhaps increased.
As we speak, entry prices $29.99 for adults and $19.99 for teenagers ages 3 to 12 throughout lunch, and $39.99 for adults and $24.99 for teenagers throughout dinner. The value contains one entree and one spherical of sopapillas.
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