Meet the Frida Staff: Esther Arzola

Esther is being humble - she can really carry 17 plates at a time.

Frida Bistro is proud to have come such a long way since opening its doors over two years ago, and Esther Arzola holds the unique distinction of being the only member of the service staff to have been here from the very beginning.  She's seen menus evolve drastically, walls get knocked down, and most importantly has seen the uniforms change from black...to white...to black...to coral...and back to black again.  We love Esther for her go-with-the-flow attitude and willingness to adapt during Frida's formative years while she developed her true identity (Frida that it, not Esther)!

Moving to the United States via Mexico over 15 years ago, Esther lived in California and Washington before moving to Utah "for love," where she has called home for the past 3 years.  On her days off, which are few and far between, Esther loves to explore Utah's beautiful mountains and lakes, hiking with her husband, Leroy.  Sometimes she even brings along her petite Yorkshire Terrier, Paris!

Before entering into the world of hospitality, Esther worked as a bilingual secretary for a plastic surgeon!  Her first stint in the hospitality industry was as a hostess at a Brazilian restaurant in Baja California Mexico.  She quickly moved into serving and has been excelling at it ever since.

She loves working at Frida because it is such a unique, colorful restaurant with a great staff, as well as wonderful clientele.  Jorge, the owner of Frida Bistro and Rico Brand, and his family have treated her as one of their own since she started working here.  She has helped out with Rico Catering, Rico Market, Farmer's Market, and even some management responsibilities at the restaurant.  With all of the many hats she wears, Esther says her favorite role is "babysitting the new staff" (she may complain about it, but we know she loves it)!

Esther considers herself a great server but acknowledges that she learns new things every day, as offering great customer service is an ongoing process.  She loves interacting with people and educating them about Mexican food and culture, and she's an excellent resource for staff members that want to become more versed on these topics.  Esther's presence is invaluable because of this immense knowledge, as well as her willingness to be flexible in her schedule and to offer help whenever it's needed.

Bringing in home cooked goodies for staff, training new team members, and helping make important restaurant decisions, Esther is certainly the "mother figure" at Frida Bistro.  But don't worry Esther, you're a young, hip, sexy mother!

A New Beginning

Our 2011 Salt Lake Magazine award for "Best Mexican" - we were honored to win the same award in 2012 as well!

The Frida Bistro blog has long been forgotten, but with exciting things happening at the restaurant everyday, we thought this would be a good time to revamp the design and commit to posting regularly.  The truth is, the blog was started when the restaurant opened, and with the tremendous amount of time, effort, and dedication it takes to get a restaurant up and running (and keep it running!), the blog effort simply fell by the wayside.

With the success of Frida Bistro comes more time to focus on reaching out to the Salt Lake community and connecting with the people who make Frida Bistro thrive - our patrons!  And that brings me to my next point: how Frida Bistro got its roots.  This is the truncated version, but stop by the restaurant any time and I promise Jorge will be happy to give you all of the details of his inspiring "immigrant from Mexico to local Salt Lake celebrity" story!

The restaurant is adorned with colorful artwork, much of it celebrating Frida Kahlo.  A good portion of the artwork is for sale, some from Jorge's personal collection, the rest from local and Mexican artists.  

Jorge Fierro came to Utah from Mexico in his 20s.  Dissatisfied with the Mexican food in town, Jorge decided to take matters into his own hands.  He set up a booth at the Pioneer Park Farmer's Market and started selling beans.  With the success of this small endeavor, Jorge started Rico Brand, where "Beans are our Beansness."  Rico Brand now manufacturers over 120 products right here in downtown Salt Lake (burritos, salsas, tamales, sauces, beans, rice, etc), and distributes to retailers all over the region!  But you'll still find Jorge at the farmer's market, every Saturday morning, schmoozing with all his adoring fans.

The space within the front of the Rico warehouse (which is now Frida Bistro) used to be Jorge's office area and the employee lounge for the production workers.  People would drive by every day and see the employees eating through the windows and wondered what restaurant was there, but there was none - they would knock on the door and try to come in.  This gave Jorge the idea to open Frida Bistro, named after Frida Kahlo, an early 20th century Mexican painter with passion and flare - once again, giving Salt Lake City something they were lacking: sophisticated Mexican gastronomy.

Frida is known for its inviting atmosphere: colorful, festive, energetic, fun, and sexy!  It's a favorite place for locals to host out-of-town guests because of its unique and charming qualities.

Moving forward, we'll use the blog to share interesting facts about Frida Kahlo, introduce you to our talented staff, feature original Frida food and drink (and yes, we'll share recipes!), and tell you about all of the big (and small) things happening in Frida's world. We look forward to having you follow along.