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This isn’t a joke: the creators of satirical animated show “South Park” are buying Casa Bonita, a beloved Colorado restaurant featured in the show.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone shared the news on Friday during a live-streamed interview with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis celebrating the 24th anniversary of “South Park.”
“Pending bankruptcy proceedings that still have to happen in a couple of months, we’ve come to an agreement with the owner, and we bought it,” Stone said.
“It’s such a great day. It’s such a wonderful day. We did it!” Parker cheered.
Parker confirmed the purchase to The Hollywood Reporter, saying that “it just felt natural.” And while he did not disclose the price of the sale, Parker said the final price tag was “fair.”
They’ve got some money to spend: the co-creators recently announced a $900 million deal with ViacomCBS
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to make six more seasons of “South Park,” as well as 14 “made-for-streaming” movies set in the “South Park” world.
Casa Bonita is an immersive Mexican restaurant in Lakewood, Colo., that “has been delighting audiences for 46 years.” Its website boasts that it has “the greatest show in Denver, mouth-watering Mexican food, a 30-foot waterfall and daring cliff divers.”
Polis said that the restaurant was “one of the things on ‘South Park’ that was really accurately portrayed.”
Like many bars and restaurants, Casa Bonita was struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic as people stayed home or local mandates forced nonessential businesses to temporarily close. Last fall, 60% of businesses listed on Yelp
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that closed during the pandemic said that they would stay shut permanently. Casa Bonita’s parent company, Summit Family Restaurants, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. So locals started a GoFundMe in an effort to save the beloved landmark.
Parker said that he and Stone were aware of the local efforts to keep the restaurant going, and they are excited to work with Coloradans to make the restaurant a success.
“I think everyone knows the potential of what that place can be,” Parker said, adding that he and Stone have been working on becoming owners of Casa Bonita for a long time.
Indeed, while it has been a rollercoaster of a year for bars and restaurants, the businesses that have managed to survive during the pandemic are starting to thrive. Restaurant receipts topped $70 billion in June for the first time ever as Americans got vaccinated, governments relaxed restrictions and people started going out to eat again.
