Casa Bonita reveals its new menu and offers a sneak peak inside

Like many people, Dana Rodriguez stayed away from the Tex-Mex platters when she used to go to Casa Bonita, filling up on margaritas and sopapillas instead.

“The food was really secondary,” she said about her visits to the famed Lakewood restaurant and entertainment venue. “We either ate before or after.”

But after new owners and “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker hired Rodriguez, a four-time James Beard-nominated Denver chef, to revamp the menu and run the kitchen, she is ready to change Casa Bonita’s notorious reputation for inedible cuisine. To do that, she jettisoned the inventory of canned food, deep-cleaned and overhauled the kitchen, and designed dishes that are actually worth the price of admission. “The Health Department loves us now,” she said...