Blue Bonnet Mexican Café: great Tex-Mex eats
Owned by the same family for more than 40 years, the Blue Bonnet Mexican Café and Lounge continues serving tasty Tex-Mex cuisine in its old building on south Broadway. Whole generations have called this award-winning restaurant their favorite Mexican place in Denver.
All right, so the name Blue Bonnet doesn’t sound very Mexican. And maybe the enchiladas, tacos and tostadas it turns out by the hundreds aren’t “authentic” by some people’s standards. Does that matter? The food here will satisfy most expectations of what good, basic Mexican food should be.
The “endless” chips and salsa you might want to start with cost only a buck, and the fast, friendly waiters will keep coming around with big pitchers of the red stuff to keep your bowls full. Save room for the real food, though, because there will be a lot of it. You could order one of the 26 combination plates, from A to Z — maybe the smothered shredded beef burrito, cheese enchilada and chili relleno, with rice and beans, all for $10.50.
Specials include the $8.95 fish tacos and the chicken barbacoa for the same price. If it’s the right season, you’ll find gazpacho or ceviche tostadas added to the extensive menu. And any time of year, the Blue Bonnet will make many dishes vegetarian and even gluten-free.
You won’t feel pressured if you want to linger for hours watching the game on TV while sipping the famous margaritas. The bartenders will make them with almost any tequila you can think of.
Relax and kick back. The décor here is very basic, and you’ll feel comfortable dressed as ultra-casually as the waiters and waitresses wearing T-shirts and shorts. You might want to sit in the main room with the bar or in the porch. On nice days, you can soak up the sun in the patio outside.
Check out the Blue Bonnet's website for all the awards it has won over the years, from the Best Nachos in 1984 to 5280 magazine’s Best Enchilada given more than two decades later. Or just come in and find out for yourself.
- by David Zindell, Aurora Reporter for HelloMetro
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