Community Highlights: Meet Danette Calhoun of La Fogata Mexican Restaurant

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danette Calhoun.

Hi Danette, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Back in the 80’s I worked as a server saving as much of my tips as I possibly could to make the dream of owning my own business come true. After ten years of working long hours, I was able to save enough money and find a small space in Southeast Denver to open La Fogata, which is the same location we are still in on Evans and Holly.

We opened our doors on January 1st, 1990. At first it was a struggle to make ends meet, since we were a brand new location. We had to decide at times whether to pay our mortgage or to pay our business rent. Through years of consistent hard work, excellent staff, and the power of word-of-mouth, things got a little bit easier over time.

After 14 years at our Evans location, we were able to save up to open our second location on Quincy and Tamarac, which has been up and running since 2004.

After 30 years in business, and through a lot of ups and downs, I can proudly tell you that we have been able to weather whatever came along and we are still serving our Denver Area.

This whole time, we have been, and continue to be blessed with incredible customers and amazing staff. We have seen entire families grow up with us throughout the last 30 years. Our patrons have gone through life milestones with us, and continue to come in and celebrate with us. We have seen families have babies, and now those babies have babies of their own, and they continue the La Fogata tradition. We really can’t thank these families enough for their support. We have become very close to a lot of them throughout the years. They’re not only customers, they are our family.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Throughout the last 30 years, we have encountered some struggles along the way. One of them specifically being the expansion of i25, the T-REX project. Since our Evans location is only one mile east of i25, the construction and traffic had a huge impact on our business. Another struggle has been marijuana being legalized in Denver. The marijuana industry has had an impact on employee hiring and retention, since they are able to pay higher rates than small restaurants.

The latest struggle obviously being COVID-19. The fear of the virus, the shutting down of businesses, the transition into serving only takeout, and people not wanting to work, have all impacted us. We have had to learn a whole new way of doing things, and train people to wear multiple hats within the business.

We are very blessed to say that we have been able to overcome these struggles and continue to have our doors open.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about La Fogata Mexican Restaurant?
La Fogata is known for serving fresh and authentic Mexican Food. We are known for our fajitas, carne adobada, and Mexican hamburger, as well as our Margaritas.

What sets us apart is that we make our own sweet and sour for our margaritas, and everything (except our tortillas) from the guacamole to the marinades we use in our meats, to the green chile, to the salsas, is homemade.

I am most proud of the customer service we provide. We love treating customers, old and new, like family.

I would love for your readers to know that we are always happy to serve our community with the freshest and most authentic food, and offer a great happy hour from 3pm-6pm daily.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My own kids deserve a lot of the credit. They have and continue to help run the business. They were 6 and 10 when we first opened, and I can tell you that they have literally been helping me since then, they would help seat people and clean tables for as long as they can remember, and now they help me run the business. Our staff also deserves a lot of the credit. We have employees that have worked with us for over 22 years, and treat our customers like family.

Our customers are also our biggest supporters and cheerleaders. They have been coming here for years, and continue to support us.

Contact Info:

• Email: dacalhoun@la-fogata.com
• Website: www.la-fogatadenver.com
• Instagram: lafogatadenver
• Facebook: lafogatadenver