Meet the Frida Staff: Steve Terry

Steve posing in "the window."

Steve Terry joined the Frida Bistro culinary team nearly 4 months ago after cutting his teeth at Lamb's Grill in downtown SLC for the past 9 years.  We were happy to have Steve come on board due to his sharp attention to detail and ability to remain calm and cool under pressure. 

If you're eating at Frida, there's a good chance your food went though Steve's station: he prepares soups and salads, most of the appetizers, and many of the side dishes for the entrees.  His position in the kitchen is at "the window" - the area where servers pick up food that is ready to be served to our guests - meaning he is the last chef to see the plates before they're served.  He ensures they are plated beautifully and are immaculately flawless, as the presentation of our food is just as important as the unique and delicate flavors.  If that wasn't stressful enough, Steve is also the liaison between the Front of House and Back of House staff, meaning at any given time there are no less than 13 people shouting instructions his way! 

Steve grew up in Virginia, just outside of Washington DC (his favorite football team is the Redskins), but has lived in Utah for most of his life.  He began his cooking career at a young age by flipping burgers at a fast food joint (he declined to tell me which one, however!), but quickly realized his talents were being wasted in that environment.  On his days off he can't stay out of the kitchen - he enjoys cooking for his wife and 8-month-old son at their home in Murray, UT. 

One of the main draws of working at Frida is that every day we are essentially coming to an art gallery, which Steve cherishes.  He loves the design of the retaurant and how it goes hand in hand with the artistic preparation and presentation of the food.  And he takes pride in knowing he plays an integral role in the guest's experience at our restaurant. 

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.