La Casa de Manuel, 3158 Larimer St.

On September 14, 1958, a family from Monterrey, in Chihuahua, Mexico, arrived in Denver with their life savings of $500. The business they would open just a few months later continues to serve up their signature “wet burritos.”

When Gonzalo G. Silva brought his wife, Antonia, and nine children to settle in Colorado, he immediately began looking for a location for a restaurant. He liked the look of a little one-story hall at 2010 Larimer St., previously used by a Japanese jeweler. He started the business using borrowed cash from the credit union at St. Cajetan’s Catholic Church. 

As Denver’s first Spanish-speaking Catholic parish, St. Cajetan’s was a godsend to many newcomers. Besides the credit union, the church 

had a school and a clinic that dispensed free health and dental care as well as free lunches. With its Spanish Mission Revival style construction — light colored stucco, red tile roof, and curvilinear parapet — St. Cajetan’s remains an architectural reminder of Colorado’s Hispanic roots; it was also one of the first Latino structures in Denver to be designated a National Register and a Denver Landmark. In a sometimes-hostile city, St. Cajetan’s was a harbor for Spanish-speaking residents and newcomers such as the Silvas.

In 1959, Silva opened Monterrey House #1, named after his hometown. Silva trekked from his home in the Swansea neighborhood down to LoDo to serve Mexican food. He made nearly everything from scratch, including its legendary chile verde — a broth style green chile not thickened by flour featuring chunks of pork.

Gonzalo’s son Manuel J. Silva took over the business in 1974 when his father retired to Mexico. Though he renamed it La Casa de Manuel, the business remains likely the oldest continually operating Mexican restaurant in Denver. Like his father, Manuel employed many of his own children to help run the business. He also kept up the quality food the establishment was known for: “Without doubt,” raved a March 7, 1975, Denver Post reviewer, “Manuel has the best authentic Mexican food in Denver.”

Though many feared Larimer Street and saw it as Skid Row, Manuel saw another side of the street. As part of an interview for the 1981 book Denver’s Larimer Street: Main Street, Skid Row, & Urban Renaissance, also by this author, Manuel said: “Larimer Street is one of the safest in Denver. Too many witnesses here. Some break-ins but few hold-up hands. I keep peace here. Jukebox cause fights. No more jukebox.”

Manuel’s restaurant shared walls with the neighboring businesses: “All these businesses,” Manuel noted in the same interview “seem to lean on each other.” Yet many were doomed by the construction of Coors Field and its thirst for parking. The business at 2010 Larimer St. operated for years on a 90-day demolition lease. Though other antique nearby buildings were saved by creation of the Ballpark Historic District in 2002, which stretches from 20th to 27th streets between Blake and Lawrence streets, it came too late to save the original Monterrey House #1/La Casa de Manuel location. The site was demolished in 1999 and remains a parking lot today.

Manuel relocated a mere 11 blocks to Mike and Sheila Besinius’ former hamburger stand at 3158 Larimer St. The new Casa de Manuel was a larger, brighter place with a dining patio facing Larimer. Manuel’s children now run the place and cook the same old traditional Mexican meals. There is still no jukebox, nor is alcohol served: Because he was not a U.S. citizen, Gonzalo could not get a liquor license and, though the laws have changed since then, Manuel never got one either.

Beginning in 1972, Manuel hired Mexican muralist Jose Castillo to create custom pieces to decorate the restaurant. Castillo, a bellman at the Brown Palace Hotel, covered the walls with scenes of life in Mexico, landscapes that evoke both Mexican mountains and the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado, and even one featuring Spanish conquistadors and a padre who appear to be discovering the site of Denver years before gringos did. This mural serves as a reminder that, before Denver’s official founding, November 22, 1858, Jerome Smiley’s definitive 1901 History of Denver noted there were “Mexican Diggings” about where Florida Avenue now crosses the South Platte River.

The murals moved to La Casa de Manuel’s “new” location, which has now been in operation for more than 25 years. The site became one of Historic Denver’s 50 Actions for 50 Places in 2021. The following year, Manuel listed the site, located on the prime corner of 32nd and Larimer streets in the neighborhood new Denverites now know as RiNo, for sale. It remains for sale at the asking price of $7 million. Once it sells, Manuel and family plan to close the restaurant permanently and retire.

This article was written by Tom “Dr. Colorado” Noel, a history professor emeritus at CU-Denver and longtime Historic Denver member, former board member and author of four books for Historic Denver, including Denver’s Larimer Street. For books, events, and other info please check out dr-colorado.com.