Posted in: Comedy Central, TV | Tagged: Casa Bonita, comedy central, Matt Stone, south park, Trey Parker

South Park: Parker & Stone on Completing $40M Casa Bonita Comeback

South Park creators Trey Parker & Matt Stone discuss their latest labor of love, the $40 million restoration of their beloved Casa Bonita.

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone don't have much to prove nowadays, given the success of their Comedy Central series in its 26 seasons, lampooning every conceivable subject covering pop culture to the point where like The Simpsons, they're now mining current events at various times for new stories. Even as their other side projects aside from the popular musical The Book of Mormon haven't measured up anywhere near their animated series standards, their latest venture is something most wouldn't ever expect from the comedic duo, restaurant entrepreneurs as the owners of their favorite Colorado-based Mexican-themed Casa Bonita, under the banner of their company The Beautiful Opco. The restaurant was featured in the season seven South Park episode of the same name.

Parker and Stone saved the restaurant by purchasing it from the previous owners, who filed for bankruptcy in 2020, one of several businesses that suffered the pandemic economic slump, and in turn, poured $40 million into its renovations and reopening. Casa Bonita is far more than the traditional affair with the buffet-style setting along with Mexican cuisine with its glorious display of exhibitions also depicted in the South Park episode from Black Bart's Cave, mariachi band, waterfalls, cliff divers, fake gold and silver mines, puppet shows for an engaging family experience. "Oh, that's a place," Parker told The New York Times when fans asked him if Casa Bonita existed. "It's crazy. It's weird."

Like Kyle Broflovski (Parker) in the episode, the duo had several birthday parties during their childhood in Colorado. Unlike the establishment they grew up in, the two promised the conditions would be far better. "It doesn't stink like chlorine anymore," Stone said in May. "We could have rebuilt this twice as big for half as much money, but we spent so much restoring it, like a piece of art." "And the food is excellent," Parker added.

During the episode, Kyle invites his friends Stan, Kenny, and Butters (all voiced by Stone) to his birthday party at Casa Bonita but leaves out his frenemy Cartman (Parker) due to his incessant cruelty and bigotry. Kyle does give him an out as a late-minute replacement should Butters not be able to make it, and that's when Cartman puts his plan into action by gaslighting Butters, convincing him that a nuclear apocalypse is upon them. Their only saving grace is to hide in a shelter, where Cartman takes a blindfolded Butters to the local junkyard. As the town frantically searches for Butters, Cartman does everything he can to buy himself time for Kyle's birthday party to enjoy the amenities to the expected results.

"It's such a visceral place," Parker said. "That's what I hope makes it so cool." "That's worth infinity dollars." Stone added. But now comes the hard part – and the duo realizes it. "What we've come to realize over the last couple of months is, now we have a lot of work to do to make it a sustainable business," Parker added. For more, including comments from Casa Bonita staff and patrons from the restaurant's test run, and updates, you can check out the NYT piece here.

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