FRIDA Southwest - Intentional Creativity
FRIDA Brings Architectural and Culinary Art to the Paseo From the Grave
It’s a sunny early spring day, the balance of warm and cool allowing the garage style doors separating the patio and the indoor bar area to be raised. FRIDA Southwest opened moments ago. The cylindrical bar, all glossy brunette hardwood gleaming in the late afternoon sun, is empty aside from myself and my partner.
Even through our masks, I instantly recognize an old friend, Colby Poulin, running the stick behind the bar. With his stature and professional demeanor, I’d know him even if he wore a full-on rubber Halloween mask. We shake hands, catch up for a few minutes, and he makes my favorite cocktail, a classic daiquiri with fresh lime juice. As someone who’s worked in hospitality for most of my life, I recognize many of the names and faces and each one is a true professional. I instantly know that anyone who dines at FRIDA will be in good hands.
Over the tuna tartare appetizer, I glance at the menu, noticing not only the detail in listing ingredients, but the special attention paid to mentioning whether a dish is vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free, a key for diners who are becoming increasingly conscious of the personal and environmental impact of their food choices. The Paseo District is famously a haven for hippies.
I was a strict vegetarian for ten years and a pescatarian for many more afterwards. I still rarely eat meat and it’s a godsend to have a menu guide you through what you’re about to select. If you have an aversion towards certain ingredients, it’s comforting to know exactly what’s going to be on your plate. Executive Chef Quinn Carrol told me it was a conscious decision. “I have always found it important as a chef to be knowledgeable and aware of allergens and dietary restrictions. When I met my wife, it became even more important to me, as she eats a gluten free diet, and as a chef I do not want anyone to look over my menu and realize they are restricted to the point of only having one option. Vegan food is a new thing for me, and it has been a blast pushing myself and learning innovative approaches to food within the Southwest framework of FRIDA.”
Chef Quinn has been in the hospitality industry since he was sixteen years old. He started at Coit’s Root Beer Stand, and then worked his way up to restaurants like Deep Fork Grill, The Metro, Red Prime, and Cheever’s. Like many chefs, he ran the gauntlet jumping from joint to joint, learning techniques and lessons. But, he’s found a home with FRIDA and Humankind Hospitality Services, the restaurant group that owns FRIDA, Picasso’s, The Other Room, and many other local favorites.
Shaun Fiaccone, the founder of Humankind, is passionate about providing a unique dining experience for the city. “I wanted to create a place that if people wanted to go to Oklahoma, they would know what Oklahoma food was really about,” he emphatically states. “I wanted to represent the Paseo area and I wanted to represent it in the very best way I could.”
The Paseo is a historic area that has seen so many changes over the decades. It’s an arts district that used to have an indoor water park. At one point in time, it was a place you might get mugged. Now it is flush with retirees running art studios, hipsters hanging out at The Other Room, or dudes wearing baja hoodies laughing and nursing beers on the Sauced patio. It’s one of the most diverse collections of true individuals you can find in Oklahoma City’s urban core.
The building FRIDA resides in was a giant vacant lot, a holdover from the Paseo’s nascent years. Shaun, who had been developing in the neighborhood for years, saw a vision and an opportunity. As a restaurateur, his Paseo concepts aim to represent the culture of the neighborhood. “So much of food and restaurant culture and hospitality...It’s an art form. It’s called culinary arts for a reason,” he explains. Teaming up with architect Brian Fitzsimmons, whose firm is just a block away on North Walker Avenue, they created a space that fits cozily into the district’s southwestern style.
FRIDA is named after the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and, with the Paseo being an arts district, Shaun wanted to honor that tradition. “I already had one restaurant named after a dead artist on the street,” he tells me with a laugh, referring to neighborhood staple Picasso’s. “With Frida, I like everything about her. She was so progressive for her era. She was the ultimate feminist, she was bisexual, she was edgy, communist, five decades before all that stuff was cool.”
“I thought there was a lot of synergy there and, I was thinking, I like the name whether it’s a Mexican restaurant or not. I started studying her and learning more about her.” For influence into the subtle design touches of the restaurant, he did serious homework. “We ended up going to Mexico City to go to her house down there and do a cultural immersion. Went to the anthropological museum, and did a deep dive.”
For Shaun and Brian, the sharp edges of the building represent the pain Frida experienced. There is a large, industrial steel beam meant as a metaphor for the metal rod she had surgically implanted into her back after being hit by a bus. The blue glass is symbolic of the color of her house in Mexico. The bathrooms are intentionally both bright and austere to be reminiscent of San Francisco, where she painted in the early 1930s. These references may not be immediately apparent, but it was important to Shaun and Brian to build the space in a way that told part of her story.
As I sip my second cocktail and wind down from the dinner, gazing at the wooden wine cellar with stacks of bottles curated by beverage director Kim Danserau, I take in the breeze. FRIDA is starting to fill up and distanced patrons are lazily enjoying their drinks on the patio. It’s a great place to spend a perfect day in the Paseo.
> FRIDA Southwest: 500 Paseo, Oklahoma City; (405) 683-7432; FRIDAsouthwest.com
