It was the end of a coffee-fueled era when Breakfast King, the once-24/7 diner at 1100 South Santa Fe Drive that had been open since 1975, abruptly locked its doors for good in January 2022.
The news hit fans hard, especially because it came on the heels of the closures of several other beloved old-school diners, including 20th Street Cafe (which reopened under new owners with a Mexican focus in 2023), Tom’s Diner (which attempted a comeback as the short-lived Tom’s Starlight; now that spot is home to Champagne Tiger) and the Denver Diner, which was knocked down to make way for a Chase banking outpost.
But the orange Breakfast King booths were occupied by diners once again late last year, after La Reyna Azteca moved in that August. The business, which has a location on East Hampden Avenue as well as a taco- and torta-focused brick-and-mortar and a food truck in Aurora, tried to appeal to the diner crowd by opening early and serving both Mexican and American breakfast dishes, including chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy, omelets, pancakes, French toast and Monte Cristo sandwiches.
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