Latest / The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of / Casa Bonita Discussion from July 7th, 2026

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Casa Bonita Discussion from July 7th, 2026 · The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So you saw this story I guess yesterday to carry
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: about a Cassa Bonita. This is a Mexican restaurant in
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Denver and it's been there for fifty years. Is if
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: you remember Larry Miller's restaurant, The Mayan. Larry Miller went
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to Casa Bonita and fell in love with it, and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that's why he built the Mayan. It's a place where
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: you have Mexican food and and it's huge. Divers costume
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and cliff divers jump and twirl into a blue lagoon.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Puppeteers put on table side shows, and magicians make the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: rounds people and it's very successful.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Featured prominently in an episode of South Park takes place
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: in Colorado.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's because Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: restaurant had I don't know if it can I think
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: it did completely close and it was going to be
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: just done away with.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: But it closed during COVID.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who loved going there when
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: they were younger, bought it and renovated it. And so
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: they're doing all that stuff now, you know, the cliff
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: diving and all of those shows, and it's magicians are
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: they're going from table to table and it's people know
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: and love this place.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Well.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Brooke Shields made a reservation there under a fake name,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: not to avoid paparazzi, but because she's an investigator sort
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: of for Actors Equity and some years ago twenty twenty four,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Casi Bonita's performers unionized. About eighty of them are now
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: represented by Actors Equity, which I guess she's the president
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: of Actors Equity right now. Shield says she's escalating after
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: prolonged negotiations, not over just over pay, but safety issues.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Since April of last year, Shields and Casabunita performers have
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: been locked in negotiations with management. The group is asking
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: for better protection for performers who say they get hypothermia
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: or chlorine toxicity in the diving pool, as well as
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: security for costume performers who say they have been grabbed
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: sexually by patrons. The group is also asking for a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: raise to bring them more in line with the servers
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: who say they who they say make more than they do,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: so they're doing the dangerous work and the servers are
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: getting paid more. The union says it's already made concessions
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: at the bargaining table, but with little offered in return
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: to improve current conditions and wages. Now, I guess Parker
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: and Stone they are not directly involved in.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: They invested in it, but they don't day to day No.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: No, they're not there for the data.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: No, and they're and they're not involved in the negotiations.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: But uh yeah, they're pretty uh there.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: The employees are pretty getting pretty uh fed up. It
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: was five years ago that the restaurant was saved from
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: bankruptcy by Stone and Parker. They grew up in the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Denver area and had been going to the restaurant since
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: they were kids and loved it. Yeah, here it is.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: It was in South Park episode in two thousand and three.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: It was fun when to take kids to the Mayan
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: when it was there, because it's it's dinner and a show.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: It's it keeps some entertained.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Except the food was really you're not going there for that.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I hear Kesso, Benita's food isn't any better. I don't know,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: but I know from experience. I think I went to
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: the Mayan twice and because I took kids there and
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: uh and the food was just not and I don't
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: know what if that's what did the miyan in that
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the food that they just never could get the quality
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: of the food up.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Well, Matt and Trey were on a talk show recently
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: and they were talking about this, and they said that
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: they are losing a lot of money on this. That
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: they did it, you know, because they loved the place.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: But then they realized this was a bad idea.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I probably would have if I had known them, I
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: would have I would have cautioned them, this may be
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: not where you want to put some money.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: So I don't know. So there there are some.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Interviews in this story with the people who work there.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Who they I mean, they say they like performing, they
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: like doing it. They would just like better, better conditions
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and better pay.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Well, I love that superhero investigative journalist Brooke Shields is
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: on the case. If Brooke okay, so brook Shields makes
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: a reservation under a fake name.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: Still you'd still Reade's Brooks.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: She well, and she said in the article I read that,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: you know, she wasn't recognized initially, but then people began
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: to figure it out.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, you can put a baseball cap and sunglasses
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: on her.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: She said, I didn't.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I didn't have a baseball cap or a mustache or yeah.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Brookshields is pretty because if nothing else, she's really tall.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Like if she walked in a room, you'd be like, oh,
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: I am noticing a.
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: Very tall woman walked in. Oh wait, that's Brookshields. Now
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: really hard for her to die. Here's what.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Parker and Stone said about their investment in it. They
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: were on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Yeah that's it, and they said,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: we've hoped to only put seven to eight million dollars
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: in it. It's been closer to fifty million. Really with
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: renovations and upgrades. It is going very well, though, they said,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and we think we might make our money back sometime
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: like in twenty forty or twenty forty five. We're almost
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: breaking even at this point. The performers say that the
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: restaurant is constantly packed, and they believe the Parker and
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Stone have the money to increase wages. The point of
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: unionizing is to permanently fix and correct these problems for
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: every single entertainment individual, and Brooke Shields is she oversees
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: negotiations between fifty one thousand actors' equity members and groups
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: like Broadway League, which represents Broadway shows, and he said
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: the Castle Bonita Fhyte is a small one, but it's personal.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: She said, it doesn't take long to feel how disparaging
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: it is when you visit a place and you see
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: young people excited to perform at the top of their game,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: doing these crazy stunts or entertaining people, and then you
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: go personally and see them not being cared for us.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: She said, I've been on Broadway enough to know that
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: it's the ensemble. It's the people that are there day
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: in and day out that are really sort of the
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: backbone of what we do.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: Brook's gonna take care of your kid.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: She's going to be a hero.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Somebody texted in Casa Bonito's great. It's the food is good.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: It's always packed and hard to get a reservation.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, yeah, that was I'd be curious to check
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: it out.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Katie's going, oh, when she's going to Colorado, give us
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: a report because one of her friends has a founder
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: card to I guess that's the thing that gets you
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: an extra special I.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Don't know, or probably just get you in. You know,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: you can always get a table. But here's here's.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: Brady from Sandy.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I worked at Jordan Commons for a few years and
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: turned down free meals from the mind because it wasn't good.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: That really was what I remember the stage show being okay,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: you know, the diving show.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: Okay, you know. I went once on.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: A media tour when it, you know, when it was
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: just getting ready to open, and I remember the show
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: was interesting.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: I think a place like that is so big, like
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: they're saying, can can seat a thousand people, I don't
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: know how you make decent food for a thousand, Like,
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: is it is it possible to make you.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: Know, you can't make a decent food for one person.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: You're right, I don't disagreetter. It is possible. It is
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: possible to food that's good, good for a thousand people.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Sure, sure, yeah, it's it's certainly possible. But the Mayan
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: never did it. They never they never figured it out.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Last time I went back in twenty eighteen, the high
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: school diving.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: Team were the performers at Rusty from Salt Lakes.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah that says here that some of the divers, most
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: of them are college divers, college students.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: All right, well, good luck, thanks Brookshields.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: Sticking up for the little guy.