Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of Comedy Central's long-running and iconic animation show "South Park," apparently love one particular quirky Colorado restaurant so much that not only did they make it a focus of one of their show's episodes, they've decided to renovate and revive the shuttered restaurant by spending over $40 million on it.
"Casa Bonita," a Mexican restaurant apparently famous for its theme-park environment, Mariachi bands and even its own diving pool, was a focal point in one episode of South Park in Nov. 2003.
The restaurant attracted a cult following amongst residents in Colorado after opening a location there in Lakewood in 1974. Both Parker and Stone, who famously first met each other at the University of Colorado Boulder, can evidently be counted as Casa Bonita enthusiasts.
Following Casa Bonita's rocky history with repeated openings and closings, the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to have put a final nail in the restaurant's coffin, leading to the Lakewood location's closing in 2020. Casa Bonita then declared bankruptcy in 2021.
However, Parker and Stone have since stepped up and spoken with the owners of Casa Bonita's Lakewood location. In 2021, Parker and Stone were joined by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to announce their intentions to revive Casa Bonita.
We’re excited to work with everybody and make it the place we all want to make it,” Parker said at the time.
Now, in an early June 2023 interview with the New York Times, Parker and Stone spoke about the restaurant's upcoming grand reopening, saying that they had spent well above $40 million to accomplish the revival.
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," Stone told the NYT.
Renovations reportedly include four additional bars at the location and some updates to its attractions, such as a new narrative to the pirate "Black Bart's" treasure cave.
Parker and Stone also spent a lot of time and money on restorations, getting particular details correct, the NYT reports, such as the iconic shade of pink on the outside of the restaurant. Getting just the right shade of pink on the entire outside of Casa Bonita reportedly took a whopping 27 tries.
Casa Bonita recently announced on social media that they would be exclusively taking reservations while "beta-testing" the restaurant. "No walk-ins," the restaurant said on Twitter, saying that for the moment "Our first guests will be pulled EXCLUSIVELY from our email list." (You can sign up here.)
According to the NYT, the restaurant has already received more than 100,000 sign-ups for reservations. While an official date for the grand reopening has reportedly not been released, May 2023 was originally set as a goal. The restaurant is also actively hiring over 500 positions at the moment as well.
In a famous episode of South Park featuring the restaurant, one of the animated show's main characters, Eric Cartman, finds out that his friend Kyle is having a birthday party at the famous restaurant but also discovers that he isn't invited. To correct this, Cartman decides to arrange for another character, "Butters," who was actually invited by Kyle to the party, to conveniently go "missing" so that Cartman can take his open spot.
Cartman's plot works and he's able to visit Casa Bonita with Kyle and friends. The episode highlights several aspects of the restaurant and shows Cartman enthusiastically enjoying them. He devours the food, explores "Black Bart's" pirate cave and dances in front of a Mariachi band.
Ultimately, Cartman's plot is found out and it's revealed he is responsible for tricking Butters into going missing, leading to a chase where Cartman attempts to enjoy as much of the Mexican restaurant as possible before being apprehended.
When the police finally capture Cartman and explain his plot, they tell him he's going to "Juvenile Hall" for a week. Cartman is then asked if it was all worth it, to which he replies dreamily: "...totally."
The South Park episode is amongst the series' most beloved and led to Casa Bonita becoming somewhat of a meme, with those outside of Colorado making journeys to the location just to see the real-life thing.
The NFL's Denver Broncos even announced their 2018 draft picks at the restaurant due to its increased popularity thanks in part to South Park.
The restaurant was technically part of a chain, with the first Casa Bonita ("Pretty house") opening in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1968. A Colorado location for the restaurant opened in 1973 and another Casa Bonita in Tulsa opened in 1971. The Tulsa location closed in 2011 and the original Oklahoma City location closed in 1993.
The last Casa Bonita, located in Lakewood, Colorado, is now owned by Parker and Stone. The show "South Park" is famously set in South Park, Colorado.