LITTLETON – While Casa Bonita has been scarfing down all the local restaurant media coverage, another big opening has south metro residents if not cliff-diving then surely dive-bombing into the new Cherry Cricket at 819 W. Littleton Blvd.

Opening week for the Denver area’s long-awaited third Cricket restaurant, situated at Huron Street about a mile east of Main Street, has drawn long lines of burger fans wanting to try out the massive new-yet-familiar, 6,600-square-foot eatery since it opened on June 22.

CC3 (that’s what I’m calling it, anyway) offers 400 indoor seats and 100 more outside spread over two outdoor patios – the biggie being dubbed “The Burger Garden,” which offers cornhole on artificial turf.

“We are thrilled to have opening week under our belts,” said Alex Bunn, vice president of brand and growth. “The response from Littleton has exceeded all of our expectations. We’d hoped to open quietly and give our team a chance to get their sea legs, but the Littleton community had other ideas.”

Yelp.com generally listed wait times at 60-90 minutes over the holiday weekend, which isn’t so bad given that, in these modern days, you can join many wait lists online. For unexplained reasons, Bunn did not want to say exactly how many customers CC3 served in its opening week, but the number is surely enormous.

“We’re limiting our seating in an effort to put our best foot forward in our new space and give our guests the quality experience they expect from the Cricket,” Bunn said. “That has resulted in a line out the door and long wait times during peak hours, but we hope to be operating at full speed in no time.”

I intentionally dropped in at 2:30 p.m. on a weekday and, while it was busy, it was not packed, although the kitchen was experiencing intermittent, understandable shortages on soda and a few other menu items. But, rest assured, none involving burgers or beer.

Longtime Cricket fans are welcomed by the franchise’s familiar marquee and lobby fish tank. Longtime fans of the building itself, which has been home to several restaurants since it was built in 1967 and is mostly remembered as the family friendly Crestwood, should appreciate a dedicated wall of nostalgia that covers the history of both the town and the building. Restaurant officials asked neighbors to submit their photo memories by email.

“It feels every bit like the Cherry Cricket, but we hope it will bring back memories from the Crestwood as well,” Bunn said. The building also has been home to Pinocchios Italian restaurant and DS’ Tavern.

Most important – OK, the only important thing – is that the Cricket menu does not change from location to location. So if you are going in for a juicy Cricket cheeseburger, you’re going to get exactly what you came for. Because the restaurant opened in the final days of Pride Month, its inaugural “Burger of Month” was called the LGBTQA Burger – essentially a Cricket Burger with guac and bacon.

At full speed, the new Littleton restaurant will employ 160 people. Applications are being taken at cherry-cricket.r365hire.com. The general manager is Samantha Taxin, who started at the original Cricket as a hostess in 2005 and worked her way up. The head chef is Eder Martinez.

The Cricket opened its flagship Cherry Creek restaurant at 2645 E. 2nd Ave. in 1945 and another near Coors Field in 2018.

The Breckenridge-Wynkoop Restaurant Group purchased the Crestwood building in December 2021 for $1.5 million, according to multiple media reports.  Ground was broken on CC3 in December 2022. MA Architects and Jordy Construction headed the project.

The Breckenridge-Wynkoop Restaurant Group, which bought the original Cherry Cricket in 2000, sold the building that houses it to Seattle-based Unico Properties for $13.8 million in 2015. A year ago, Unico sold it for $25.15 million to BWA Cricket LLC, which is associated with the local Denver real estate firm Alpine Investments.

Breckenridge-Wynkoop also owns Phantom Canyon in Colorado Springs, the Wynkoop Brewery in downtown Denver and some coffee shops.

The new CC3 is the latest evidence of Littleton’s post-pandemic restaurant bounceback stretching all the way west on Littleton Boulevard to Santa Fe Drive.

The Original Tavern, ViewHouse, The Melting Pot, Grande Station, Bacon Social House and the new Black & Haus Tavern all appear to be thriving on Main Street. One entire block there is presently being developed as a series of interconnected bars and restaurants sharing one common back garden.

And what’s good for business is good for the arts – and vice versa. Last year, Littleton voters approved a new lodgers tax that is expected to raise up to $975,000 to support arts, culture and tourism. One beneficiary, the Town Hall Arts Center, stands to gain about $125,000 from that measure. And Town Hall, in return, drew 35,000 people to Main Street last year – no doubt to the benefit of its bars, restaurants and other retailers.

“Main Street is alive with arts, theater, music and food,” said Robert Michael Sanders, chief operating officer of the Town Hall Arts Center. “The Cherry Cricket is another welcome eatery with a long history of being a crowd favorite.”

And while the attention of the larger metro area and its media remain transfixed on all things Casa Bonita, that’s just fine with Bunn.

“Like every Denver native, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the reopening of Casa Bonita,” she said. “I’m a big believer in what’s good for Denver and Casa Bonita is great for Denver. We know how difficult opening a restaurant is. We’re looking forward to their success and hope to pay them a visit soon.”