New royalty is moving into the Breakfast King’s former palace.
La Reyna Azteca plans to open at the former home of longtime diner The Breakfast King at the corner of Santa Fe Drive and Mississippi Avenue, owner Josefa Trujillo Castillo said Tuesday.
La Reyna Azteca, which is Spanish for Aztec Queen, has three locations in Denver and Aurora, but Castillo said the 300 W. Mississippi Ave. location will be an all-breakfast restaurant called La Reyna Azteca and Breakfast.
“It’s going to be totally different,” Castillo said.
The Breakfast King, with its vintage decor and vinyl booths, served up breakfast and lunch favorites 24/7 from 1975 until it suddenly closed in January 2022. The building has since sat unoccupied.
Castillo said La Reyna Azteca finalized a deal at the start of July to lease the property from Breakfast King’s owners, who still possess the property. Castillo did not give specifics on the deal.
According to city records, the property includes an approximately 2,700-square-foot building on about one-third of an acre. Castillo said they’re not investing much into renovating the property beyond painting, reflooring and cleaning.
“We’re leasing the building, the owners weren’t ready to sell yet,” Castillo said. “Yet — so maybe someday.”
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Castillo said the restaurant hopes to open in August and plans to be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
Breakfast King isn’t the only longtime Denver diner property undergoing a shift. A new tenant is also taking over the former Tom’s Diner building along Colfax near downtown, promising to bring “bougie ratchet energy.”
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