Now that the bankruptcy judge has signed the sale of Casa Bonita to South Park Colorado creators and natives Trey Parker and Matt Stone for $ 3.1 million (and an unknown amount for intellectual property rights), some of their plans are made public. And they not only look smart, but also a little nice.

On November 16, the team announced that restaurateur Dana Rodriguez had signed on as executive chef and culinary partner. The popular and generous Denver chef – whose life story would make its own script – was already in the kitchen, analyzing the necessary equipment updates for the pink entertainment palace that opened at 6715 West Colfax Avenue in Lakewood in 1974.

Robert Wheaton, who bought Casa Bonita from founder Bill Waugh, had closed the restaurant in March 2020 as the pandemic struck; the dining room never reopened. Earlier this year, even as Wheaton’s Summit family restaurants filed for bankruptcy in April, Casa Bonita began offering free tours of the empty restaurant.

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These tours ended when the sale was finalized, and the South Park the crew got busy. But the employees who had overseen Casa Bonita during the calm pandemic months and led the tours are not out in the cold. In a move as smart as hiring Rodriguez (but much quieter), Stone, Parker and the company are keeping more than fifty current Casa Bonita team members employed until the restaurant reopens, likely in the summer. next.

But these employees will not be working in the building itself: instead, confirms Casa Bonita spokesperson Stef Jones, they have been asked to devote their time and energy to nonprofit organizations of the local community, including We Don’t Waste, Project Angel Heart, the Action Center and Habitat ReStores in Denver and Wheat Ridge. At a time when many charities are running out of both aid and money, the move has been welcome, a Lakewood official said.

Soft.