Born and raised in Colorado, Hernandez grew up surrounded by family and food. At the age of ten, she moved in with her grandmother, affectionately known as Mama Atencio, who taught her the recipes that still define the restaurant's menu.
"I moved in with her when I was ten, and cooked and learned all of her recipes, all of Daddy's food. I've worked here since I was sixteen," says Hernandez.
While the restaurant was originally opened in 1986 by Hernandez's uncle and aunt, Ernie and Nancy Atencio, she is quick to point out that her father, known throughout the community as Gilly, was the true face of La Casa Del Rey. He never officially owned the business, but to many customers, he was the heart of it. "People still come in and say, 'I remember your dad when he came around. Blah, blah, blah.' I was a waitress, but it was all about Daddy. It didn't matter whether he was the owner or not. This was his life. This is what he gave his life to. And on the side, you know, selling his burritos, doing that for decades," Hernandez explains.
Long before La Casa Del Rey opened its doors, Gilly was making and selling his famous burritos around town. By day, he worked as a postal carrier. But on the side, he was in the family kitchen cooking pork steak, fresh beans, and green chili, and rolling burritos by the hundreds. "I was eight years old cooking his pork steak for these burritos," recalls Hernandez. "I would go to sleep with my hands in water because I was making the fresh chili. Then, I'd want to go out with my friends, and he'd be like, 'You need to get those burritos done first. I gotta get them sold.' He used to sell them at Broncos games when you were able to go in and sell them. No joke, this guy, I'm telling you, he's known all over," she says.
After Gilly passed away ten years ago, Hernandez continued working at the restaurant, building on what her family had started. What began as a small restaurant with just eight tables has now blossomed into thirty-five tables. "I've lived through every cycle of life with our customers. I'm seeing the great-grandkids of our first regulars now. It's always been family here. It still is," she says.
However, in 2019, the restaurant experienced a temporary closure due to internal family disputes, and people in the community feared they had lost a beloved staple. Determined to keep her father's recipes and the connection to their loyal customers alive, she found another way to serve the community. "I got a little food truck and I set up down there at my tax guy's place just so we could still be out there," she says. "I couldn't let our customers down after 32 years. I had to have an outlet for them." It wasn't fancy, but it worked. Lines formed. People came. And for a time, that humble food truck kept the spirit of La Casa Del Rey alive.
After a several-month closure, Hernandez and her sons Jesse, Josh, and John Trujillo officially took over the restaurant and reopened La Casa Del Rey. Together, they breathed new life into the venture, honoring its roots while looking toward the future.
Gillys Favorita Burrito
Gilly's Food Truck
The backbone of the menu is, of course, "Gilly's Favorita Burrito."
"It's special because we make it fresh," says Hernandez. "So, we got fresh whole beans. We got fresh pork steak that we cut ourselves. We cut it, grill it. Fresh hatch chili. The bean juice from the whole beans, it just all comes together. I'm fifty-seven years old, I've been making these burritos since I was eight." While this signature burrito was only added to the restaurant menu after reopening, it has quickly become a top seller.
Most of what is offered on the truck, however, cannot be found at La Casa Del Rey. "The food truck menu is a little different. We added a Gilly's bowl because people like a bowl when they're out and about. We also added street tacos, al pastor and carne asada, which are not on the restaurant menu," says Hernandez. The truck serves their award-winning Mexican hamburger, along with other burrito options like steak and avocado, beef and bean burrito, and even fries, all with the option to be smothered in fresh green chile.
As Hernandez and her family prepare to take Gilly's Food Truck out in the community, her son Jesse Trujillo, who runs the successful food truck Dos Gringos, is lending a hand by managing the scheduling and the food truck's social media presence. "We're going to go on the road for whatever, I'll go anywhere," says Hernandez. "Everything is fresh and consistent. We take pride in consistency and that's what you can expect with the food truck."
Follow the family on Instagram @gillysmexicanfood for updates as the truck hits the road, or swing by La Casa Del Rey, at 7035 East 72nd Avenue in Commerce City, open Sundays-Thursdays 9 a.m.-8:30 p.m. and Fridays-Saturdays 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
