Casa Bonita's new ownership is paying longtime employees to help out at local charities while the pink eatertainment palace is closed.
Many longtime Casa Bonita staffers are planning to return. In order to keep those employees working, the new ownership offered them a unique opportunity while the facility is renovated: They wereAlex Perez has been an employee at Casa Bonita since 1995."I worked on the floor. Bartender, server, supervisor. I know everything about Casa Bonita," he says."It’s the best place in the world. It’s a restaurant. It’s entertainment. Every day, you see different faces. Lots of families.
Before Parker and Stone purchased Casa Bonita, Perez was, like so many others, staying home and taking care of his family. But when the volunteer opportunity came up, he was happy to jump on board and joined the team at, a Denver-based nonprofit that provides medically tailored meals to those facing illness."After Casa Bonita, [Project Angel Heart] is the best experience that I could have," Perez explains.
Serving that many people requires a lot of extra help, 75 percent of which is done by more than twenty volunteers a day. Perez, who comes in three days a week, has been able to help lead those volunteers while also taking on many other essential tasks."I keep very busy," he says."I help with prep, chopping fresh vegetables like onions, red peppers and celery. I prep and season protein like tilapia and salmon.
And he does all of that with a positive attitude every day."He's nothing but smiles," Newman says."That really rubs off on our other staff and the volunteers. We can give him 500 pounds of potatoes to peel, and he'll just knock it out with nothing but smiles and jokes the whole time." But while Perez has loved his time at Project Angel Heart, he — like a lot of people in Denver — can't wait to return to Casa Bonita."I’m excited to get inside and see what has been happening," he says."I expect to walk in and say, 'Wow!'", it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we'd like to keep it that way. With local media under siege, it's more important than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism.