‘South Park’ Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker Have Considered Buying ‘Casa Bonita’ Restaurant
One of the greatest South Park episodes of all time is “Casa Bonita.”
Matt Stone and Trey Parker love the restaurant so much that they have considered buying the place before. But sadly, as of April of 2021, the restaurant is filing for bankruptcy.
Casa Bonita is filing for bankruptcy
Unfortunately, the festive restaurant featured on South Park is filing for bankruptcy. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, it has filed for Chapter 11 protection. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the restaurant has been shut down for a while now amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Yet, a GoFundMe account has been made to try and keep the restaurant afloat. So far, it has raised $16,000.
And while Stone and Parker are known for making fun of their subjects on South Park, their “Casa Bonita” episode praises the restaurant as opposed to making fun of it.
Matt Stone and Trey Parker wanted to buy Casa Bonita
According to Stone and Parker in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, they wanted to buy Casa Bonita because they love it so much.
“I got a call from South Park studios wanting to talk about an episode they’d done,” says the general manager of the restaurant. “My first concern was that I’ve seen South Park before, so I know it is not always super kind to the topic it’s about. And they said, ‘No, they love Casa Bonita, and it would be a nice representation of the restaurant.’ So I signed the waiver, and the rest is history.”
“Four years ago, it came up for sale, and we had 10 minutes of like, ‘We should buy it,'” said Parker. “Because they do have a few things up there now where they’re like, this is the South Park Casa Bonita. There are people who go to Casa Bonita because of South Park.”
‘Casa Bonita’ is one of Trey Parker’s favorite ‘South Park’ episodes of all time
During a commentary special for season 7 of South Park, the series creators discuss the episode “Casa Bonita.”
During the commentary, Parker mentions how it is among his top 10 favorite South Park episodes.
“This is definitely among my top 10 favorite episodes of all time,” says Parker. “This was another very last-minute idea that sort of came together. All just based on this place that we used to go to as kids in Denver, Colorado called Casa Bonita.”
“Which, by the way, I’ll just say off the bat that Casa Bonita let us use their name and the restaurant in this episode, which makes them even cooler than they already are. Because most places wouldn’t allow their names to be used in South Park.”
“You know, we grew up with it,” says Parker.
And when people asked if they were going to rip on the restaurant, he said, “How can you rip on Casa Bonita? That was your dream as a kid to get to go to Casa Bonita for your birthday. And we didn’t make anything up here. Whatever Cartman says they have, they have. And it’s really modeled after what it looks like. A lot of the animators have gone to Casa Bonita many times as well.”
