Latin Savor in Adams County, CO

Stanley Marketplace’s Latino businesses dish up some of the best local flavors.

By Rebecca Treon on May 26, 2023

Jeff Adkins

Stanley Marketplace has reimagined a neighborhood and created a community. The former aviation manufacturing facility in Aurora is now home to 50-plus businesses committed to giving back. People are immersed in an eclectic, creative atmosphere while they taste, drink and shop. The marketplace’s Latin-inspired and Latino-owned businesses are a highlight, allowing visitors to experience part of Colorado’s regional culture and connect with the local Latino community.

Theo Stroomer

Traditions of Hospitality

Cheluna Brewing Company owners Javi and Jennifer Pérez moved all over the country for Javi’s job as an ER doctor before settling in Denver in 2010, where they put down roots and started a new venture. Javi had been an avid home brewer for years, so they opened Cheluna, a brewery inspired by the flavors and hospitality of Mexico.

“We opened the brewery as a way of building a community and fostering a sense of belonging, a way of contributing to a place and feeling like we belong here, like we’re part of the fabric of Colorado – and it’s been extremely successful,” Javi says. “We practice the kind of Mexican hospitality where people who come in are treated as if they came to our house. A complete stranger would be fed and shown love and kindness. That’s the way my parents and grandparents were – building a place of belonging.”

Cheluna also fosters community with a roster of daily events, including live music, a run/walk/roll group (their outdoor patio opens up to 22 acres of park), a Spanish-English conversation group called InterLengua, Zumba classes and even a home-brewing club, the Homies (whose creation earned Cheluna a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival).

Jeff Adkins

Diverse Experiences

The Stanley is also home to Create Kitchen & Bar (a cooking school) and Lucina Eatery & Bar, co-owned by Erasmo (Ras) Casiano, Diego Coconati and Michelle Nguyen, each of whom had diverse culinary experiences growing up and who wanted to bring people around the table to not only share a meal but build community.

“There’s something to be said for neighborhood spots that have been there for like 10 years. We wanted to open an experiential food and beverage concept because we wanted to get to know our guests by name and see them every week – we love having that sense of community,” Casiano says. “So many restaurants are French or Italian, but we have a story to tell through food about our backgrounds. At Stanley, we are part of a really great melting pot of businesses in the middle of the Central Park neighborhood. We are lucky, along with the Latinos that work with us, to express who we are every day, and we take a lot of pride in being able to serve our comfort food to people in an approachable way.”

Jeff Adkins

Travel-Inspired Cuisine 

Comida, one of Stanley Marketplace’s founding restaurants, serves Mexican-inspired street food with a Southern comfort food twist (think pimento cheese stuffed jalapeños or tacos with pork shoulder slow-cooked in Stella Artois). Inspired by chef/owner Rayme Rossello’s extensive time in Mexico, the restaurant is as much about being part of the Stanley community as anything else.

“What appealed to me about opening at Stanley was that the businesses in it would all be not chain-type corporate entities, but local businesses run by hard-working, creative people doing the things that they loved,” Rossello says. “Being part of that community sounded awesome. Being in a stand-alone location in a building where you’re having to draw everyone to you is a different experience than being a part of something where people come to see who knows who and wind up at your front door.”

Rossello notes that there are numerous other Latino-owned or operated businesses at Stanley, like Elita Specialty Market & Kitchen and Sweet Gold Juice Co., and the majority of her staff (including her executive chef Sandra Banchs) and many of her clientele are also Latino, which has only increased since she opened the location.

“Compared to four years ago, about 60% of the front of the house speak Spanish as their first language, in addition to English, but they now speak Spanish to about a third of our customers, too,” Rossello says. “Stanley is really flourishing and is a real neighborhood place. There’s been very little turnover – most of the places that opened six years ago are still here, despite all the challenges of the past few years.”