La Fiesta, One of Denver's Oldest Family-Run Restaurants, Turning Sixty

On October 1, La Fiesta will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary, marking sixty years of the same family running the same Mexican restaurant at 2340 Champa Street, in a transformed Safeway.

There have been changes over the decades, of course. As envisioned by founder Michael Herrera, a businessman and broadcaster for Colorado’s first Spanish-speaking radio station, KFSC-AM, La Fiesta wasn't just a restaurant, but a party — a place for people who loved Denver's unique style of Mexican food to eat during the day, and for fans of Mexican music to dance at night. By the late ’70s, though, La Fiesta had pared back its hours and solidified its reputation as a lunchtime gathering spot, attracting everyone from cops to lawyers to Colorado Supreme Court justices to Michael Herrera himself, who came in to eat lunch just about every weekday until his passing in early 2020.

But the family has carried on, with Michael's son, Robert, overseeing the place; his son, also named Robert, often pops in at lunch and on Fridays, when La Fiesta stays open until at least 9 p.m., or on Saturdays, when it's been opening in the evening for the past few years. "What else would I do?" asks Robert Sr. "My dad didn't need to work, but he kept working anyway." Like father, like son...and grandson.

La Fiesta is always closed on Sunday, though, and so October 1 — the date in 1963 when Denver issued the building's occupancy permit — will come and go without an official birthday celebration.

With the neighborhood around La Fiesta changing so rapidly and the entire Denver dining scene evolving so quickly, it's important to salute such landmarks, party or no party.

While My Brother's Bar just marked its 150th anniversary — technically, the 150th anniversary of a bar being in the building at 2376 15th Street, though it's gone through many iterations and owners — and the Buckhorn Exchange can trace its occupancy at 1000 Osage Street all the way back to 1893, La Fiesta is a rarity in that it's been in the same spot, and run by the same family, for sixty years.
Pete's Satire Lounge, at 1920 East Colfax Avenue, qualifies for that honor, too. In late 1962, Pete Contos and his wife, Liz, bought the former Sugie’s Cocktail Lounge — by then renamed the Satire Lounge — and subsequently launched an empire that grew to nine businesses. Pete Contos passed away in 2019, while four of his restaurants remain, including Pete's Satire Lounge, which celebrated its sixtieth birthday last fall with a facelift. Today it's run by Pete's grandson, Alex Barakos, who also took over Pete’s Kitchen next door.

So far, the only Denver eatery we've found that can boast being in the same spot, in the same family, for even longer is Bastien's, named Best Old-School Steakhouse in the Best of Denver 2022. William Bastien purchased the Moon Drive Inn, located at 3503 East Colfax Avenue, back in 1937. In 1958, the family replaced "The Moon" with a brand-new restaurant in a building designed by William and his son, Bill, in the classic California Googie style. Members of the Bastien family have been serving up stiff drinks and hot plates of the classic Sugar Steak ever since; Bill the Third frequently answers the phone there, and confirms that the fourth generation is now helping to run the restaurant. "It speaks for itself," he says of the family business.

Outside Denver, the Santilli family has owned the Owl Cigar Store at 626 Main Street in Cañon City since 1943, and still runs it today. Although the Owl's focus hasn't always been food, it's been cooking up classic burgers since the late ’40s.

Do you know of a Denver restaurant that can beat that record? Or the longevity of Bastien's? Send a note to [email protected].