Casa Bonita, the focus of our current cover story, isn t the only longtime local restaurant that has yet to reopen. Benny s Restaurant & Cantina, a far more authentic Mexican restaurant thanks to chef/founder Benny Armas, has been closed since March 17, the day all eateries in Colorado were shut down.
But while many have come back and others are considering it, since metro Denver restaurants can now operate their dining rooms at 50 percent capacity Benny s remains closed. We just hope you understand, proclaims the Benny s Facebook page. We are trying to keep our family safe due to COVID-19.
Fans of the longtime eatery are willing to wait to eat Benny s food again, as evidenced by their comments on the
Casa Bonita isn’t the only landmark restaurant that has yet to reopen in metro Denver. But while some owners have definitely given up the ghost, others, like Casa Bonita s Robert Wheaton, promise that they ll be back.
While all five restaurants owned by Mountain Sun Mountain Sun, Southern Sun and Under the Sun, all in Boulder, along with the Vine Street Pub in Denver and Longs Peak Pub in Longmont are closed, and will remain so for the foreseeable future, until the vaccine allows bars and restaurants to operate with fewer restrictions, their owners promise to return. “We’ll be back,” Mountain Sun co-owner Kevin Daly told Jonathan Shikes. “All five locations will be back, and we can’t wait to have a Stout Month when people can kiss and hug and make out and have a beer at the bar with their friends.”