Former Bubba Chinos in Park Hill goes to pot

Would-be medical marijuana dispensary owners are snapping up empty restaurant spaces around town. The former Buca di Beppo at 1400 Market Street is turning into Farmacy, and the space at 5151 East 28th Avenue that formerly held Bubba Chinos #5 is now slated to become a medical marijuana dispensary. But...

By Patricia Calhoun

January 7, 2010

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Would-be medical marijuana dispensary owners are snapping up empty restaurant spaces around town. The former Buca di Beppo at 1400 Market Street is turning into Farmacy, and the space at 5151 East 28th Avenue that formerly held Bubba Chinos #5 is now slated to become a medical marijuana dispensary. But that plan has neighbors hotter than an order of Bubba Chinos chile -- so hot, in fact, that tonight's Greater Park Hill meeting, where the proposed dispensary will be discussed, has been moved to the District 2 Police Station, at 3921 Holly Street, to accommodate the anticipated crowds.

While Bubba Chinos couldn't make it in Park Hill, another outpost is moving into the former home of Vella's, at 3000 South Federal Boulevard. That will put this homegrown chain back at eight outlets, since an Edgewater store opened this fall.

Bubba Chinos is the brainchild of Leonard Cordova, grandson of the legendary Stella Cordova, who ran Chubby Burger Drive-In for forty years, until she passed away last year at the age of 100.

Raised in northern California, Leonard mixed the food he grew up on with his grandmother's traditional Mexican food to create the Bubba Chinos menu, which includes both a grilled breakfast burrito and a killer double cheeseburger with chile.

Hold the pot.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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