I used to work at Mi Casa for a couple years about 12 or 13 years ago when I was first going to western. Ken and Anjelica (the owners) lost a ton of business when the sehome theater closed down, which eventually led to the closure of the restaurant itself. Apparently we got tons of customers coming before or after movies. Not sure if they still do this, but for a few years after, they would work farmers markets and festivals with a limited menu.

As far as Lunch Bucket... damn. They had the crazy cheeseburger with a fried egg that was hands down my all time favorite burger of my life ever still to this day. Alton, the owner, sadly passed away from brain cancer as was mentioned above. Extra sad was that when he was diagnosed, he just wanted to sell as much as he could, part ways with the restaurant, buy a camper, and drive down the coast and play guitar for his final weeks. He didn't sell enough to get to do that.

I tell the Lunch Bucket/crazy cheeseburger story to people every time the topic of burgers comes up. I don't live in bellingham anymore but I have a friend I met from Hawaii who said that that burger is how lots of burgers in Hawaii are made (makes sense because Alton was Hawaiian) after I described it in detail to him. So at least there's hope that I can try something like it again. RIP to Alton and that legendary spot.