Casa Bonita, champion of public health and food safety? So says the government.

2 min. read
Casa Bonita. (Courtney Johnston/Flickr/Creative Commons) casa bonita; lakewood;

Casa Bonita. (Courtney Johnston/Flickr/Creative Commons)

Casa Bonita, the Lakewood restaurant already known for its cliff-diving performance art and exquisite scenery, now can add "Public Health Champion" to its menu.

Yep: The house of much beauty is the winner of a top honor from the Jefferson County Public Health Department. The specific award was for "assuring food safety," and it went to the restaurant's management team.

"The managers have been there for many years and continually think of new ways to promote safe food and solve issues that arise," the government said of Casa Bonita, where the most popular menu item seems to be all-you-can eat tacos served from a cafeteria line. (Sopapillas are popular, too.)

Besides frequent training in food safety, the restaurant uses a cell-phone system to inform employees of violations of the health code, and it has "an efficient system for correcting the violation immediately," according to the health department.

"They have shared this system with other restaurants so they can also be more compliant with the Colorado Retail Food Service Regulation. This has led to collaboration with other restaurants to problem solve food safety issues that arise on a day-to-day basis."

Casa Bonita has not tallied any critical health violations since 2015, when staff were cited for doing food prep and dumping mop water in handwashing sinks. They also got knocked for keeping rice about 8 degrees below the minimum required temperature, according to public records.

"Casa Bonita is a progressive restaurant that is proud to promote food safety and give guests the most pleasant experience possible," the award notes conclude.

Recent Stories