Lakewood Company – Last week, I gave a speech at the University of Denver in Colorado, introducing my career covering Mexican food in the United States. My host asked me to have a meal the night before the conversation.
Even if they were surprised, the choice was obvious: Casa Bonita.
It is one of the most notorious Mexican restaurants in the country, and since its opening in 1974, it has been a shabby suburban shopping mall, a sprawling complex, as everything from Disneyland Mexico to cultural hate crimes, as it is always the atmosphere of carnival. The place seems to be closed forever during the pandemic, an era in which people don’t need to imagine themselves in Mexico for a night because Mexicans are everywhere now.
But in 2023, “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone reopened the place because the formally designated Lakewood historical landmark was a favorite of their childhood. They spent $40 million to return Casa Bonita to its heyday, descending to freshly scrubbed fake palm leaves and restoring old-fashioned tiles while vowing to actually be edible foods that were long-time nicknamed “Casa no-Eat-a”.
I’m more of a fan of the Simpsons, but I’ve always thanked South Park for controversially striking out Mexicans throughout 27 years of competition, not only is it morally and economically wrong, but it’s stupid.
This season, Parker and Stone have triggered an attack on anti-Mexican hatred by playing their trademark satire. They describe Fox News as Maga Sycophant, President Trump as the dictator of litigation brutality, and JD Vance as…well, jd vance. ICE is considered a department, so it is out of control that it detains explorer Dora and is so powerless that they hired the show’s skeleton consultant, Mr Mackey, who was quickly promoted after helping to attack heaven.
Leviathan was doing everything possible to cast undocumented immigrants, many of whom were Mexicans, as the worst “South Park” was the worst when its owners were trying to carry out a reclamation project at a longtime Mexican restaurant when their lies were lying. How could I not make a pilgrimage to Casa Bonita toward Parker and Stone’s Pro-Mexican PR combo?
Casa Bonita, Lakewood, Colorado.
(David Kelly / The Times)
I met my master at the entrance of the restaurant, which looked like a Pueblo Square with a huge water fountain, towering church spire and a pink look that fits better with a tablespoon of Pepto-Bismol. A line has reached out of the door. Booking at the premium of Casa Bonita, we couldn’t sneak into a party of six.
Casa Bonita can accommodate over 2,000 people at a time, and it seems that this is the one I went to stop at night. Every 10 minutes or so, the gongs ring and the announcer announces a new show – Magic Show, Mexican marialand, wandering gorillas. Near the exit is the giant statue of Cartman, used by Parker and Stone to portray America’s worst “South Park” characters. Here he is a kid in awe looking at the table of enchiladas, burritos and tacos. This is a callback to the famous plot of 2003, introducing Casa Bonita to a national audience that could not believe such a restaurant actually exists.
The food was OK, a pity – Available through the beef burrito, chalky quiso, bland avocado sauce. The menu will have problems when the best thing in the restaurant is chips. But when I looked around, I realized that Casa Bonita’s food was second on the scene. Importantly, for hours, Mexicans are cool.
Diners – White, Black, Latino, Asian, Muslim – With divers twisting, 30 feet of fake waterfalls are twisted into a small swimming pool every 20 minutes to honor Acapulco’s famous homage clavadistas. The customer laughs at an old-fashioned but adorable puppet show starring Casa Bonita’s dishes, from hoarse hard tacos to sopaiipilla. I traveled through a small maze, admired random stonemasons, and read a small display of Casa Bonita’s history, praising the life story of its chef, Mexican immigrant Dana Rodriguez, as one of the “resilience and determination.”
How Casa Bonita portrays Mexicans – No fancy gifts, no mock Spanish. The waiter without a stroll in the poncho placed the sombreros on the unsuspecting diner without fake beards. Adults walk around with the same smile Joie de Vivre When I was a kid.
When the quick dinner that my master and I should have at Casa Bonita turned into two hours, I thought of another rude Hollywood boy turned into a Mexican Amigo: Jimmy Kimmel. His eponymous ABC late night show was temporarily suspended after he tried to connect suspicious conservative enemy Charlie Kirk to the killer of Maga, which triggered a threat of retribution from the Trump regime. Brooklyn natives first became known for comedy central shows such as “Man Show” and “Crank Men” where Latinos were largely portrayed as sexpots, drunk or dim people.
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” its owner is the opposite. A guest host for the summer is Mexican actor and “Andor” star Diego Luna, who had a powerful conversation about the terrifying ice raid on Los Angeles this summer and one night unleashed burritos from Orange County’s beloved Burritos La Palma. The fun of joining Luna is Guillermo Rodriguez hombre On the street.
although Wokosos Always accusing Kimmel of using Rodriguez as a laugh (featured to forget the prototype of Latino humor from the Quixote and Sancho Panza era) laugh (featured to forget the prototype of Latino humor), he is the ordinary Latinos because he is one of us because he is one of us. That’s why my social media feeds are about what would happen to Guillermo if Kimmel lost his show permanently and why Latinos were particularly angry about ABC sitting on the ABC bench.
If Kimmel could join the “South Park” brothers to embrace the Mexicans, any brother would do it.
After vowing not to buy any souvenirs, I purchased Casa Bonita stickers for my laptop and shooting glass. I could have spent more time there, but my master was in class the next day. We stopped at the benefit of a wish, and a worker handed me a token and threw it to an animation elves who promised to give me the desire.
“no longer remoteI said, loudly speaking, attracting a tired smile from my master.
“Oh. Sorry.” Announced after a brief pause. “That’s impossible.”
In 2025, thank you for finding nothing. “South Park” saves us!
