All I want for Christmas is my Casa Bonita invite
A report from inside America's favorite pink hacienda (finally!), Chef Beto Reyes on the move, Huevones revisited, Pikes Peak Brewing launches the Springs' first hop water + more food & drink news
Anyone else still waiting impatiently for their email invite to Casa Bonita?
Ah. So it’s not just me — who signed up six months ago. Which serves to prove that they aren’t giving media any special attention on this one. Even those of us who were invited for a pre-opening tour back in May. (Read my writeup here if you missed it.)
I know a lot of people, and I haven’t heard anyone tell me they’ve gone yet. To that end, I also haven’t seen anything on social media from folks I’m connected to. Although, confession: I don’t have a lot of free time to scroll.
But my partner happened to hear of someone she knows who went. So, doing what I do, I reached out to ask if this person would be interested in writing us an impression from their visit. You know, to let the rest of us uncool losers in on the excitement vicariously. Good news: I got a “yes.”
Meet Zee O’Donnell. They’re a news reporter for The Scribe at University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and they’re currently pursuing a Bachelor of Social Work degree. Zee has been writing for different student publications since middle school and says they’re excited to break into the professional world. (Welcome to Side Dish, Zee! I’m glad to have your contribution, and overjoyed to give you your big break — remember me when you’re famous.🤓)
Without further ado, here’s Zee’s Top 10 Things to Know Before Going to Casa Bonita:
You will receive several weird looks if you sit in the audience for the puppet show.
Apparently it’s ‘for children’ and adults should awkwardly crowd around the outside of the audience judging anyone who actually sits down, while still being way more invested in the puppet show than their kids are. The puppet show is absolutely hilarious, and pokes fun at the reputation the food at Casa Bonita had before its closing.
The best place to watch the cliff divers is on the bottom level.
The main level tends to get very crowded, but you can get a great view (and stand in the splash zone!) without having to fight to the front or stand on your tiptoes if you head down to the entrance of the magic show.
Don’t go starving.
Don’t even go hungry. Go in a maybe snackish mood. The portions were small, and the sopapillas were, sadly, not unlimited.
Never allow your younger sister to get a free balloon animal.
Casa Bonita had a couple different places that offered experiences for kids. In addition to balloon animals, there is also face painting, tarot card readings, and caricature portraits. However, you should never, ever, ever let your younger sister get a balloon animal. She will get a candy cane, and she will hit you in the head with it.
If you go on your birthday, be prepared for your mom to tell every single employee it’s your birthday.
That’s right. Every. Single. One. She will even tell the gorilla, and the gorilla will sing (or grunt) you a happy birthday. Lucky for my street cred (and dignity), the birthday song wasn’t very long.
Make sure to bring your walking shoes.
Although it is by no means a hike, you will spend a lot of time waiting in lines and walking around the building. It’s best to have comfy footwear so you aren’t complaining incessantly the whole time about how your feet hurt while your favorite older sibling is trying to celebrate their birthday. (Looking at you, Abby).
Make sure to say hi to Eric Cartman!
Whether you are or are not a South Park fan, it is absolutely worth it to head up to the third floor to see the Eric Cartman statute. (Just hope there’s no zombie apocalypse that keeps you from going.)
Maximize your time.
Although Casa Bonita is a really fun experience and definitely worth a trip, it is a one-time experience. Make sure to leave time to do everything when you go, because the price (and the waitlist) doesn’t really make it worth it to go back again.
Black Bart’s Cave is the perfect attraction…
…for scaring your mom. In addition to all the fun pirate-y scenes in the cave, there are also all sorts of alcoves that are perfect for hiding in. Since I went into the cave first, I loved jumping out of little hiding spots I found to scare my family members. On a totally unrelated note, this was my family’s least favorite attraction.
Expect to eat enough sopapillas to make you sick.
Although they are not unlimited, it is included in the price that every person gets several servings of sopapillas. After your dad eats all your food because his taco was too small, he will definitely eat all of yours to compensate. Be prepared to eat so many sopapillas to compensate for your sadly stolen food that you feel sick the rest of the day. Don’t worry, the sopapillas taste incredible so it is totally worth it.
Ranch Foods Direct readies for Xmas
The above graphic says it all. And it gives more than a hint as to what recipe we’ll be featuring from Gather Food Studio next week and throughout December to spotlight Ranch Foods Direct’s Callicrate beef. Stay tuned friends, and go dig back out those fine eatin’ pants you wore for Thanksgiving. You’re gonna need ‘em.
The king has left the building
Chef Beto Reyes (whose last name translates to “kings” if my headline went over your head) announced earlier this week that he has departed from Milagros Mexican Cocina. “Thank you for allowing me to take you out of your comfort zone and teach you about different ways to eat different cuisines,” he wrote in a social media post. “I am thrilled to share my next chapter with you soon and I hope to see you all be part of my next journey.”
I spoke with Reyes earlier this week about what exactly is next, and it’s too early to share what’s envisioned (though yet to be finalized) with potential partners, etc. But I can report that as a transition stopgap, Reyes has launched Eleven18 Fusion Cuisine, listed as a food truck with catering. That’s partly due to a friend with an idle food truck that’s street-ready, and had already been up for sale. (Some of you may be able to guess who that is.) For Eleven18, Reyes has brought along his sous chef, Donald Briones, who’s “been my right hand for the past five years,” he says, noting they came out to the Springs from Indiana together, where they worked prior.
As for the business name, Reyes explains that it’s the date of his twins’ birthday; they just turned 3 years old a couple weeks ago. If you want to be the first to check out Eleven18, head to the former Folklore space (next to Tipperary Cocktail Parlor) this Friday or Saturday night. There’s Energy After-Hours EDM parties on both nights from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., and Reyes plans to run service from around 10 to 2 a.m., or whenever he runs out of food. (Click that link for more event info.) In the coming weeks, expect to see some regular appearances by Eleven18 at breweries. Stay tuned here for updates.
Decc December with Distillery 291
If you’ve attended my third-Thursday Sip With Schnip nights at The Carter Payne then you’ve perhaps caught one of the two popups we’ve done with Distillery 291 in recent months. I also reported on (and attended) their whiskey dinner at Broadmoor Seven Falls’ Restaurant 1858 back in August. And in mid November, I once again caught up with their crew (read: drank together) when 291 owner/founding distiller Michael Myers joined us at Tipperary Cocktail Parlor to lend his High Rye Colorado Bourbon as a challenge spirit to the competing bartenders. Point being, we’re industry pals and I’ve been a fan of their products ever since I first interviewed Myers in early 2013 at his original, startup location. Sip and savor the recipe above this season, or take a page from my home playbook, and as a nightcap, add a generous splash of The Decc to a cup of decaf coffee (I recommend Story Coffee or Hold Fast’s sugarcane process Colombian decaf). It’s a drink so lovely that I gave it a crazy creative name: Wait for it … Decc and Decaf. Boom. You can thank me at the next Sip With Schnip.
Still eggscellent
Huevones food cart cemented its reputation as a superior taco stop pretty much out of the gate around two and a half years ago. My colleague at the time rated them “stupid delicious” and I recall as I was editing the story thinking to myself: ‘man, I gotta go get some of this.’
I did not long after and wasn’t disappointed, so I had my expectations reasonably set on my recent stop by Bread & Butter’s parking lot on a Sunday morning. (They also regularly hit Metric Brewing on alternating Thurdays and Saturdays; check their Instagram page schedule for the latest outings.) We ordered the chilaquiles verdes with a barbacoa topping as well as the chorizo-egg-potato taco and The Works (egg, potato, sofrito, bacon and beans), with a Café de Olla on the side.
The latter is a Mexican coffee (traditionally served in clay ware) here spun with an instant coffee for modern authenticity according to Huevones chef/owner Gerardo Arreola. He adds the typical piloncillo (raw cane sugar) plus cinnamon, star anise and a stylizing touch of Abuelita Mexican hot chocolate and oat milk. On its own it’s pretty sweet and intense but with bites of the food it works wonders in the same way a great wine pairing improves the food and vice versa.
The spice notes play well with the barbacoa in particular and the coffee acidity matches that of the awesome tomatillo-poblano sauce fortified with chicken stock plus garnishing pickled onions. Arreola’s homemade buttermilk tortillas with a caramelized Monterrey Jack cheese layer griddled to them are the star of the tacos; it’s rare for the tortilla to steal the spotlight from otherwise fine topping ingredients. The chef tells me this style of tortilla is common to the Sonora region where his mom’s family’s from. His other heritage hails from the Durango area he says, noting this food cart is a longtime family dream that he’s been the first to execute. He’s a self-taught chef.
In a follow-up message exchange online, he tells me: “Growing up my dad was a butcher for as long as I can remember. That and spending time in Mexico at my uncle’s butcher shop cleaning whole cows is what got me in the kitchen. Then the rest came from my mom who has always been one of the best cooks in the family. My whole life revolved around food. What we are doing today is just representation of that. We focus on real authentic home style cooking. Everything is made fresh from scratch always. Produce is hand selected every week. Eating from us is a nostalgic feeling for anyone who grew like I did. That’s best represented in our chilaquiles, our salsas, our barbacoa, and our guisado. Those few things make up my best memories of food. It’s not food for me, it’s for the people. I’m just the one making it.”
*Related: Arreola’s wife Mekayla operates Sugar Mama’s, a pop-up business that vends vegan/gluten-free/organic fruit treats made by dipping respective fruits in a candy crunch coating that includes Jolly Ranchers. Her site notes these are “inspired by a traditional Chinese snack called Tanghulu.” View her Instagram page for upcoming pop-up dates.
Brew news
• Focal Pint has opened up voting for its 2023 Best In Beer awards. Categories include Best New Brewery, Most Improved Brewery and Best Beer Quality. Voting is ranked choice; which makes the ballot kinda fun to fill out. Click here to get started, and follow preliminary results up until Dec. 26, with final results publishing January 1.
• Pikes Peak Brewing Co.’s newest product, Trail Water, will hit local retail shelves the week of Christmas. PPBC sales rep Travis Flett, who delivered me a sampler six, says PPBC is the first local brewery to begin distributing a hop water. As you probably know by now, the non-alcoholic drink market has experienced huge growth in recent years. I’ve long been a fan of Hoplark beverages that include hop waters as well as Hop Teas; they scratch the itch when I’m craving beery flavors but don’t want the buzz to accompany them. Flett says Trail Water’s made with a blend of Cascade, Amarillo and Citra hops, and he likes to drink his over ice with a lime and thin slice of jalapeño. I try my first taste without extras and enjoy the clean, lemony finish (boosted by citric acid) and medium carbonation crispness. There’s less aroma on the nose than Hop Teas, by comparison, but plenty of flavor. Flett also mentions how Emilio Ortiz at 503W has taken early interest for Trail Water use in cocktails. That may betray the non-alcoholic underpinnings of hop waters, but it demonstrates another use value beyond just replacing beer during a dry month. I suspect we’ll see more of these type products come to market, but Trail Water has emerged as the trailblazer.
Bites and bits
• My State of Plate podcast (as well as the true-crime podcast I co-wrote/co-produced called Vulnerable Creatures) made Inside the News in Colorado’s recent roundup of Colorado-based podcasts, a curated list spotlighting locally created content.
• Inefable at Avenue 19 has set Dec. 13 as its opening date. Reservations may now be made on OpenTable. Read my writeup on Inefable and Chef Fernando Trancoso here if for some reason you missed it a couple weeks ago. (If you did miss it, you can totally make amends by taking advantage of my holiday discount and becoming a paid subscriber for 2024. Just click this button below to get started.)👇
Upcoming events:
• Dec. 2: Prohibition Party at the Principal’s Office. 6:30-11 p.m.; free. Enjoy live jazz/swing by Katie Hale & the P47s; dress in 1920’s-30’s attire to get 15 percent off your tab.
• Dec. 2: 2 Year Anniversary Prohibition Party at Neat Whisky House. 6 p.m. to midnight. Password: “On the Rocks.” Period dress strongly encouraged. Expect classic cocktails, fine whiskies and a cigar lounge via Leaf to Ash.
• Dec. 2-3: The Very Merry Holiday Market at the Meanwhile Block, featuring food and drink, craft goods and much more.
• Dec. 11: Bar Battle Royale at Tipperary Cocktail Parlor. Winning bartenders from prior months face off in a head-to-head finale. More details to come next week.
Parting shot
A couple weeks ago in this newsletter I shared images from the recent Gingerbread & Jazz event held by Early Connections Learning Center. I co-judged the gingerbread house competition, where entries had maximum size requirements that restrained them from growing larger than what easily fit on a small tabletop. Well, by contrast, the pastry team at The Broadmoor has gone all-out once again with an enormous display this year titled “A Lightning Bug Canopy Boat.” The creation “pays homage to the canopy boats that once cruised on Cheyenne Lake when the resort opened its doors in 1918,” according to a release.
As for just how big this elaborate construct is: It’s 16 feet by 4 feet and was made with “over 958 lbs. of powdered sugar, 475 lbs. of flour, 1,801 eggs, plus a canopy adorned with candy including candy canes, gumdrops, macarons, meringues, peppermints, and jellybeans.” It’s now on display in Broadmoor main’s mezzanine and will remain up through New Year’s Day. Check out special holiday programming at the hotel here.
