Taste isn't all that matters to Dana Rodriguez, the new executive chef at Casa Bonita. As she guided us through the restaurant/amusement park, she kept invoking scent. "Welcome to Casa! It smells really good! It's fresh. It's clean."
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone overhauled the Lakewood institution and put Rodriguez in charge of the menu, which was infamously second-rate. Rodriguez, whose other Denver-area restaurants include Work & Class and Cantina Loca, was tasked with elevating the cuisine - yet not straying too far from staples like enchiladas and sopaipillas.
In a candid conversation for National Hispanic Heritage Month, Rodriguez, who turned an insult into a nickname - "Loca" - walks us down the path that led from her rejection, years ago, as a Casa Bonita dishwasher to her seemingly unstoppable success. And because we just know you're going to ask: There's no date yet when the restaurant will be open to walk-ins. The eatery/arcade is in a beta-test phase - working the kinks out and making its way down a waitlist that's more winding than Black Bart's Cave. You can listen to the audio of the interview right here.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity
Dana Rodriguez: Welcome to Casa. Look at that fountain. It sounds amazing. It smells really good.
Ryan Warner: It smells really good. The Pepto Bismol-colored paint looks great.
Rodriguez: Right?
Warner: Did this place mean anything to you before you got associated with the project?
Rodriguez: It's like a movie to me because I came and applied here in 1998 and I didn't get the job. I applied for a dishwasher and I wasn't qualified. So, they say no to me and then I go into my journey and then I come back. So, it's awesome. It feels really good.
Warner: And now you're in charge of the food.
Rodriguez: All right. Here is the entrance. Welcome to Casa.
Warner: It reminds me of the original. It just...everything looks fresher.
Rodriguez: It smells good. It's fresh, it's clean.
Warner: It's funny, you've twice mentioned smell. Was that a complaint people had?
Rodriguez: It was the first thing that people always talk about. I mean, that pool has been open since 1973, '74. The most important thing for Matt (Stone) and Trey (Parker; the new owners of Casa Bonita) is they want to change nothing and improve everything. We've been saying this forever. The queue line here is one of the things that everybody remembered. You can buy a ticket to go straight to your table, but most of the people choose to go old school. So, that's what I'm going to walk you through.
Warner: OK. You have the option of table service now, but people want that old feeling that they probably had as a kid of waiting in line with a tray?
Rodriguez: Exactly. And this is a totally new building that we added and we turned it into Oaxaca Plaza.
Warner: And it's got those beautiful little flags.
Rodriguez: And the colors and everything are perfect, right? Everything looks like, you know, the little houses there and all of that, and then that's where you order your food. "I want enchiladas, I want rellenos," versus when you go to the table, you order there with your server like at a normal restaurant.
Warner: This is a pretty ornate frame over a giant menu. And the dishes are... wow, you have mole.
Rodriguez: I do have mole.
Warner: Oh my gosh, it's one of my favorite dishes.
Rodriguez: And we kept the enchiladas. I mean, we kept a few: taco salad, enchiladas, pork, rice and beans, and of course sopaipillas from the original menu. But I wanted to do it my own way. Like the enchiladas; we make the tortillas in-house, we bring the Mexican cheese, we make the red chili and the green chili here.
Warner: I can't believe there is ceviche. Shrimp ceviche. Did you think of that?
Rodriguez: Of course! The way that I create my menus, I try to be 80% gluten-free. I want to be conscious of the people or generation who now have a lot of allergies and I want to make sure I have something for everyone. So, I create things that are vegan, vegetarian, meat, and I always like to have fish on the menu too. So, I tried a double shrimp. It was like a red chili with butter and garlic and it was delicious. But then I realized in the first practice weeks that we put it there and then in ten minutes the shrimp, if it keeps cooking, it turns into what seems like a piece of plastic. So, I'm like, "Oh, I cannot do that." And as much as I wanted to make good quality food, it's hard because it's a huge venue. You're going to be able to do 5,000 plates. So, I wanted to do it right. And I said, "OK, let's do shrimp, but let's do it in a different way so that it's not going to change the consistency or the quality."
Warner: Right, because if it's ceviche, if it's a fresh shrimp, not a cooked shrimp, then you don't have to worry about rubbery shrimp.
Rodriguez: Yep, and it'll last longer during the day. If you're going to have it in the cooler, it's fine.
Warner: I'm so glad you brought that up because one of my questions was what the quality control is when the quantity of service is so voluminous? And you're not even at capacity at this point.
Rodriguez: No. We've been doing 1,000 people a day. On the double days, that is Saturdays, we do 2,200 people. But I designed these kitchens to be efficient, to be high volume. Same thing with the bars. When we did all the designs, it was to be able to do 5,000 people a day. We wanted to do five turns, six turns. So, we're not there yet, but everything is built to go that way, including the menus, the drinks, and the food.
Warner: So, this is a dry run. You guys are still working the kinks out.
Rodriguez: Absolutely.
Warner: Because when people found out I was going to interview you, the number one question was, "When will it be open to everyone?"
Rodriguez: We are open to the public. The difference is it's not the big line that we used to do, it's more like a ticket and they want to do it right. It's going to be opening more days eventually and then more seatings. So, we are going slowly but surely.
Warner: So, no dates specific yet for a general opening?
Rodriguez: No, not yet.
Warner: I would love to see the dining room and talk more about your fantastic culinary journey and your vision.
Rodriguez: We go through that little door, then you walk through abuelita's casa.
Warner: The house of little grandma.
Rodriguez: Yes. And sometimes grandma's on the chair making a dress for the granddaughter. And it's a cute thing that kids love.
Warner: It looks like a little living room. There's a sewing machine, a rocking chair, an old telephone.
Rodriguez: And this abuelita's courtyard. You know, abuelitas always have plants all over the house. And then we're going to the tortilleria. We make the tortillas in house. And I want to show from having the flour over there that this is not just a show. Sometimes they knock on the window to get tortillas for the kids.
Warner: When you were growing up in Chihuahua, Mexico, I think you used to grind corn to make masa for tortillas.
Rodriguez: Yep. Yes.
Warner: This is a tradition for you since your earliest years.
Rodriguez: Since you're born that's the first sound probably you hear. Instead of hearing the bottle for the babies, it's your mom or your grandma grinding the corn. That's in our every day.
Warner: You also did butchery with your dad, didn't you?
Rodriguez: I did, yes.
Warner: Does that still come in handy?
Rodriguez: Absolutely. I learned more here with my mentors. Obviously in Chihuahua we don't have fish, so I learned how to do whole fish here, like 200 pounds of halibut here. I do goats, lambs, and pigs. We can do cows, chickens, all of that. And I love that because then you utilize everything, you make sausages with all the leftovers. So, Work & Class is the perfect place for that menu. So, we do that a lot at Work & Class.
Warner: Work & Class is another of your restaurants. Casa Bonita is not your only gig. You've got Super Mega Bien, Cantina Loca. There's your tequila brand, Doña Loca. Can I pick up on this word loca? Crazy? Because your bio says you're ****ing crazy but in the best way possible.
Rodriguez: Absolutely.
Warner: What does that mean?
Rodriguez: It means that you're unstoppable. You keep trying and you try to do the right thing all the time and you have no fear to keep going.
Warner: And why is that crazy?
Rodriguez: Well, crazy comes from a different story. I think it's crazy because not everybody has I feel like a superpower inside, like keep going. If you fail, get up and keep running. That's to me for a lot of people is that, "You're crazy, can you stop?" But the crazy story came from a different... When I started at Panzano, I used to have this manager, he called me all the time like, "Speak English, I don't understand what you say." And I go home and cry for months. And one day I'm like, "I'm ***ing done with this ***. I'm done." So, I didn't cuss at all. I came from Mexico, my mom was Christian to the bones. I went to Christian school, like no bad words, like good girl.
Warner: Panzano is an Italian restaurant in downtown Denver. You began there as a dishwasher. And this is also where the chef discovered your talent, realized your talent and changed the course of your life.
Rodriguez: Yes. Absolutely. So, the interesting part is that I came and applied at Casa Bonita and they said, "No" so I went to Panzano and they hired me immediately. They were about to open. So, that's how I met my mentors. And (the chef) Jen (Jasinski) is like, "Dana, you've got to be the sous-chef." And I said, "No." I mean my Spanglish is pretty rough still, but back then, it was hard to communicate with people.
And it's an open kitchen. So, you're in front of customers, you're in front of the servers. So, I hesitate for the first time like, "No,I'm not ready." She's like, "OK, let me train you a little bit more." Finally, I said, "OK, I'm ready." And I go for it. And then our manager, he's always like, "I don't understand what you say, speak English." It's an open kitchen. So, I was sad and crying. I'm like, "I don't know what to do with this." One day, it was on an Easter weekend, it was a Saturday night, we're super busy, open kitchen. And he came to me as soon as I start running the line. And he is like, "Dana, speak English. I don't understand what you say." And literally I feel like something hot on my body. I always tell people that story like hot, like heat and my blood was boiling. And I turned around and I say, "Well, **** you. Do you understand that?" And then he turned around, he looked at me, he said, "You are ****ing loco." And then I turned around and I said, "By the way, it's ****ing loca, I'm a girl, not a boy. No loco." So, since then everybody's like, "Hey loca. Hey loca." It becomes a thing. And I took advantage of that because a lot of people don't know my name. My name is Dana in Spanish, but everybody reads it as Dana. So, I'm like, "Just call me Loca." And everybody started calling me Loca instead of Dana, Diana, Donna, Deanna, so many... I'm like, "Loca." So, everybody calls me Loca.
When Ryan met Dana Rodriguez at Casa Bonita, he brought along some customer reviews of the reimagined menu:
Warner: Can I read one to you? "The food is good, no more slop."
Rodriguez: That's a good one.
Warner: It's a high compliment, to have your food called no more slop.
Rodriguez: It is. I know.
Warner: But I wonder if it felt like a challenge to both keep the things that had been on the menu but also elevate them.
Rodriguez: It is a challenge because I like to use quality products. I don't like to buy canned cheese that I can put on top of the enchiladas. We grind the cheese here, we make the enchiladas, we cook it every 10 minutes when we opened for service, so I keep it fresh.
And the challenge is like it's a lot of bad reviews too. And people are still like, "I like the old food better." And other people are like, "Did you get sick? I didn't." OK. So, it's a lot of going back and forth. I don't read everything because then it will get in my head. My hardest challenge is I want people to eat hot food.
Warner: Yes, what an interesting thing. Anyone who's made a big meal for the holidays and has been in charge of the entree and the side dishes and the dessert knows how difficult it is to keep everything hot for the moment of service.
Rodriguez: Yep. Well, the challenge is this place is massive. It's a 60,000 square foot facility. To be wandering around with your tray, if you have a grandma and three kids and you are walking very slowly, it's going to take you five, seven minutes to get to your table. From the time that you see it and you put everybody around the table, your food is not hot the way that I want it. So, we have a lot of challenges and what I changed on the menu is that I want most everything in sauces; that longer with the temperature.
So, I have the suadero, which is the brisket. It's cooked in green chili, and when I serve it, I put extra green chili on top, so it lasts a little bit longer until you get (to the table). Rice and beans, they get a little bit warm temperature, but it's still really good. And we challenge, like before we open, we practice with the construction people, with our employees. Say, "OK, everybody, get in line, get your food, go sit in the gold mines (a dining area in Casa Bonita) all the way there. If the food is still hot, how fast can we work?" We are timing things. There's only so much that I can do when it's going to be 5,000 people and it's a big line and the grandma or my kids are in front of me, or a person with a broken leg, they're not going to be able to walk fast in front of you. So, it's a lot of things that you cannot solve and control.
Warner: But the point is, if you serve things in sauces, the sauces are like a warm hug, a hot hug that keeps the food.
Rodriguez: So, they last longer. Yep. And that's why the ceviche's cold because it's easy to maintain a fish with that good quality as a ceviche versus a hot salmon that when it gets all the way there it's going to be overcooked from the steam table, soggy and dry and cold at your table. So, it's like I wanted to put things that I can control a little bit of the quality.
So, I designed three different kitchens. I designed production, which is all the chop-chop, cooking, prepping all morning. The second one over there is to keep everything hot when we open for service, so we keep everything fresh. So, I have an army of people doing burgers every 10 minutes for kids, enchiladas every 10 minutes. We have beans cooking, it doesn't stop. They're here from like 7:00 in the morning to midnight.
Warner: So, you helped design the kitchens?
Rodriguez: I did. I designed the kitchens. And the bars a little bit because that's what I do through my own residence, I built everything from the ground. And to me, I have to do it in a way that feels efficient for me to be able to execute this volume. So, this is the other kitchen. This is for catering, for events, for the people that they order from the cliff side where you came straight to your reservation. So, even from here... And that's the battle that I tell you, when (the servers) pick up the food here, I'm like, "Run. You've got to get to the table."
Warner: You were the chef at the French restaurant, Bistro Vendôme. And from time to time, customers wanted to give their compliments to the chef. And here's what you told me in 2014:
"When I was at Bistro Vendôme, they requested to talk to the chef and there is a Mexican girl going up there and they're like, "Oh, not the dishwasher, the chef." And I'm like, "That's me."
Rodriguez: Absolutely. And it was a joke that we always talk about. I can see on their faces when they're like, "Oh, we're going to talk to the chef." And I showed up and I'm like, "I know."
Warner: Do you still face that kind of... I mean, I don't know if it's prejudice, I don't know if it's poor assumptions.
Rodriguez: Absolutely. I mean, it's part of this industry, it's part of the reality, and it's part of life. It could be the gasoline to keep going. You know what I mean? So, I'm still facing some of those things in here, like when they talk about the food, when they talk about how we design things, what kind of honey we use on the sopaipillas, things like that. It's part of life and it's part of the culture in the industry.
Warner: I'm glad you mentioned the sopaipillas. Do you still raise a little flag to get them?
Rodriguez: Yep, we do. So, we have the flags here. And the design, I remember we talked a lot about this like, "How are we going to make it work this time?" When we started cleaning the old ones, they were a little full of honey and a little sticky. So, we decided to just do a new design. People ask, I remember when we started building the menu and everything, they say, "Are you keeping divers, sopaipillas, and flags?" Those are the three things that are the most memorable things that everybody remembers from Casa.
Warner: And you can say yes, yes, and yes.
Rodriguez: Yes. I say, "I cannot tell you what else is going to change, but those, yes, yes and yes."
Warner: Did you change the sopaipilla recipe in any way?
Rodriguez: No, I didn't change it. I did not even modify it. Here is the thing, when I was looking for all the recipes, I have a picture of that: 100 pounds flour, water, lard, and that's it. And then I'm like, "That's weird. There are no ratios." So, in the beginning they used to use lard, which is the pork fat. Now I use shortening because I wanted to keep it for the people that they wanted to eat with no meat in it or animal product. So, I changed it for that. And then I find the ratios, like trying the recipes, say, "OK, let's start with 25 pounds of flour." And then the beauty is that I have right now 25 employees from the previous Casa and they used to be the ones who made the sopaipillas. Not the dough, but they fried it and they served it. So, I bring all of them and I say, "OK, I'm testing these recipes because I want to make sure it's the same one." So, we try it and until they're like, "No, it's too chewy. No, it's too hard. No, it's not the flavor." And then we're like, "Yep, those are the ones." So, we make it work.
Warner: They're your continuity. They connect you to what was.
Rodriguez: And I think we make it work and they're happy and they're back to their own spot making sopaipillas every day.
Warner: Indeed, a lifetime ago you started as a dishwasher at the Italian restaurant Panzano in downtown Denver. I wonder, do you connect with dishwashers in your restaurants today with some type of encouragement or understanding?
Rodriguez: I connect with every single one and the reason why is because I started as a dishwasher and then I was the prep, and then I was a banquet, and then I was grill, saute, salads, and then I became the sous-chef. So, I did all the steps. It's the part that I love the most, being a mentor, and to say, "You don't have to be doing dishes forever. You're really good at cutting onions and peppers, you're going to be my next prep (chef)." I have this girl that she wanted to apply here as a server. Before, she was one of the cleaners in the construction. And she said, "I want to work for you. I want to go to school right now so I can learn a little bit of English and then I can be a busser and maybe a server." And I say, "Why you don't start in the kitchen, so you understand everything." And now she's one of my lead persons and we've been open for three months, literally. She showed the skills immediately. And I say, "Oh, That's what Gen Z and myself, when I was 22 at Panzano doing dishes. I want you to do exactly the same." And that's what I've been doing with the people that run my restaurants. It's like first, because I'm a mom, second, because I own businesses and they become your kids. So, you want to be the mom and mentor to them all the time and say, "Oh, you're so good at this. Let's try something new. Let's do something different." Pushing people in a good way, I think it comes for me because that's how I feel I started my career and my life in here.
Warner: Before we go, National Hispanic Heritage Month runs through Oct. 15. It started in 1968 as a week under President Lyndon Johnson. Ronald Reagan expanded it in 1988 to a month. When did it enter your awareness?
Rodriguez: I've been doing a bunch of events for all of this. And it's so funny, I was joking around because I say, "Am I the only Mexican chef in town? I have to do all the events on my own? Come on people." But it's part of what I love to do. I've been involved with 36 nonprofits. I tell this story, like people don't understand those 25 years, what it went through there: domestic violence, maybe discrimination, maybe... whatever, you name it. You see it, and you need to encourage people and go, "I learned something." And the Hispanic or Latin Heritage Month is the best opportunity for me to put my restaurants as a platform to help other people. How can you encourage people that even when you go through the worst, you can find the most positive to take the next step. And even if you do something wrong and you fail, it's not a failure. You don't lose a business, you don't close a restaurant. It's like, "No, it's my chance to do something different." So, I do that, especially this month, and I've been doing that for the past probably 15 years being involved in a lot of things with the Latinos and the Latino community in Colorado.
