BANANAS! is no longer, replaced by a joint called Casa Alvarez. An internet search reveals affection for the place still exists in menus, buttons, and ads featuring dudes in hot tubs on Pinterest.
An oral history pdf from someone by the name of Wayne Dozier remembering BANANAS!:
"Opened Bananas in 1978. It was a contemporary, rock 'n' roll restaurant with up-tempo music ... Casually creative. It was the first restaurant in Boulder to serve deep-fried cheese. It was the first to serve taco salad in a giant fried tortilla chip. Its appeal cut a wide path. They thought it would appeal to the 25-30 age group but it attracted patrons from 18 to 85. It was located in Palmer Gardens at 30th and Walnut.
Bananas was more an "impulse" restaurant where customers were geographically close. However, for a number of years, Bananas was an architectural curiosity and pulled from many areas.
How Bananas got its name. The P.R. story claims it was because the architect went bananas figuring out its design. But actually, the architect thought up the name and it brought a smile to everyone they told it to. Architect was Victor Hough of Denver, who designed several of Wayne's establishments."
I cannot find a single photo of the restaurant to find out how bananas it really was.
This article states the interview was in 1990. Reading further, it also states Dozier began closing restaurants over the course of two years. So BANANAS! shuttered between 1988 and 1992.
From GetBoulder, and Forty Years of Nibbling:
If you were to take a time machine back to the 1970s... the favorite cuisine in our rapidly growing college/high-tech town was American... The ultimate example was Bananas (now Casa Alvarez), an eatery whose oddly named menu items—like “My Old Kenturkey Home,” a hot sandwich—were matched only by the thoroughly goofy design.
A crazy place like this deserves to be memorialized with a crazy drink.
Lola Granola
- 1 1/2 oz. amaretto liqueur
- 3 oz. orange juice
- 1 oz. half and half
- 1/2 banana
- 1/2 tsp. wheat germ
Place all bu the wheat germ in blender with 4oz. of ice. Blend until smooth. Pour into wineglass and garnish with wheat germ.
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