This Kid-Friendly Drag Brunch Is a Good Time for All Ages

While most drag brunches are tailored to an adult crowd, the monthly fete at Comida in Stanley Marketplace (2501 Dallas Street, Aurora) is geared toward the kids. Meaning Monstera, the star drag queen host of the six-month-old event, keeps the songs, jokes and games G-rated. At least for the most part, and any little pun that may slip out goes right over the heads of the little ones.

"Most of the people visiting Stanley Marketplace are families with younger children, and we wanted to include as many people as possible in these events," says Monstera. "Just like at my show, my number-one goal is for everyone to have fun." And my eight-year-old son and I certainly did have fun at the last drag brunch on June 10.

The next drag brunch is scheduled for Sunday, July 23, and tickets are available on OpenTable. It's $25 to hold your spot, but the reservation includes a $25 food and drink credit. Comida general manager Patrick Dizon says that the event typically sells out a couple weeks prior, so it's best to make a reservation as soon as possible. Make sure to bring some cash to tip your queens, too; the bar stocks a lot of dollars if you need to break a larger bill.

Dizon says he started the programming to do something exciting for everyone, and the idea was met with open arms by owner Rayme Rossello.  "Drag brunches have always been a fun way for friends and family to get together, and nothing like that has been started on this side of town," according to Dizon. "You see a lot of the brunches downtown that do cater to the adult crowd, and we wanted something to include everyone."

Truth is, I had long wanted to take my kid to a drag show, but something about the free-flowing sexuality, curse words and other adult fun made it hard to schedule an outing. But now we can go and see the fabulous Monstera each month — along with whomever else she has hosting the performance with her.

During our first visit, it was Nini Coco, who started out the show with a rendition of The Little Mermaid and Ariel's famous song "Part of Your World," all while shuffling across the floor in a sparkly mermaid costume. We had just watched the live-action movie, and the timing felt perfect. I gave my son the stack of dollar bills to tip the queens with, and he wiggled one for her as she wiggled out of her tail and transformed into a dancing queen in stilettos.

Before Nini Coco's memorable Disney princess routine, Monstera got the enthusiastic crowd going with an homage to the late Tina Turner by lip syncing and dancing to the classic song "Proud Mary." Her troll doll hair bounced along and introduced my son to just how much fun it is to watch someone having so much fun, no holds barred.
"For all of my shows, I always think about what the crowd is going to be composed of, and I think to myself, 'What song would the audience want to hear when I perform?'" says Monstera. "At Comida, I know that the crowd is gonna be mostly middle-aged women with younger children, based on the shows we've already had, so I always keep the songs PG to PG-13, and I might pick a song from the 1980s to early 2000s to bring that nostalgia for the mothers there. I tell my other co-host, which changes every month, to do the same."

Nostalgia was indeed high, and there wasn't a song played that I couldn't (at least sort of) sing, too. Dollar bills fluttered, including the stack clutched in my kid's hand. As Monstera came over to claim her tip, she smiled and advised him to save some for later. (I hadn't realized that he'd taken our whole cache, and I really appreciated that she recognized that.)

One might think that a family-friendly drag show couldn't be as fun as an adult-only one, but that's not the case at all. Most of the crowd were adults, actually, with just four or five kids and a handful of babies in the audience. Even though the kid turnout wasn't huge, Monstera had games for them, including musical chairs and limbo with candy for prizes. Adults got to play a round, too, and winners got a shot of tequila.
The brunch food was also perfect for all ages, and my kid devoured a plate of strawberry-topped pancakes and a bowl of guacamole with chips. I had three tasty tacos: the mushroom, bacon-jalapeño and carnitas. Coffee was served, along with a Mexican bottled Coke for my son and a Monstera Lemonade cocktail for me, a refreshing tipple made with vodka, tequila, pomegranate lemonade and a soda float.

Later I learned there was also a cocktail for a cause, the Smokey Burro, benefiting the nonprofit organization wayOUT, which focuses on empowering gender-expansive youth by investing in centers in their local communities. I didn't end up with one because, well, my son can't drive and I had already won a shot after playing musical chairs.

"I want the audience to go home and talk about it the rest of the day with everyone they run into, and kids, most importantly, need spaces where they can be themselves unconditionally," says Monstera, who noted that she saw my son go from shy to being too excited to stay in his seat. "There are so many things that kids see these days pushing them down, all I want to do is lift them up, and if I can be my 100 percent authentic self at brunch, so can they." After about two hours of singing, playing and enjoying the drag queens' expert dance skills and soul-filling energy, the brunch ended. While my son had a few drag queen-related questions afterward, it was all just curiosity and wanting to understand a culture neither of us are part of. Overall, we both had a lot of fun and left beaming, already plotting a way to go again.