Julian Cordova, the same person who owns the Original Chubby's at 8330 Washington Street in Thornton, is opening this new place, too. But neither are an original Original Chubby's -- unless you're going by files at the Colorado Secretary of State's office, where Julian Cordova has registered the names "Original Chubby's," "Original Chubbys Mexican Food" and "Chubbys." See also: -Smothered: The saga of the Chubby's empire - How four different Chubby's restaurants stack up. --Homegrown Mercedes Mexican Restaurant chain closes several restaurants --Chubby's makes the New York Times, thanks to Gustavo Arellano
Still, there is only one original Original Chubby's. It's located at 1231 West 38th Avenue, in the spot where Stella Cordova noticed a "Cook Wanted" sign at the Chubby Burger Drive Inn in 1967. At the age of 59, she got the job and started the next day -- earning 85 cents an hour, according to the Chubby's website.
Within two years, she'd bought the place -- keeping the name, but changing the menu to include her incredible green chile. And Stella continued working at the Original Chubby's until she turned a hundred. She passed away soon after, in June 2009, but her restaurant -- and her chile recipe -- live on. Today her grandson, Danny Cordova, runs the one and only Original Chubby's.
Julian Cordova is a grandson of Stella's, too, and five years ago she told us she'd "allowed" him to open a Chubby's -- unlike some of the other former friends and relatives who just went ahead and opened their own variation on Chubby's.
But Danny Cordova insists that the original Original Chubby's on West 38th Avenue remains the only true Chubby's.
And so does its website. "There have been many imposters over the years," it warns, "but there is only one original - Grandma's, The Original Chubby's."
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