Three Local Chefs Take On Frida Kahlo’s Best Recipes

Detroit is going a bit Kahlo crazy next month with the Frida opening at the Michigan Opera on March 7 and the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit exhibition kicking-off at the DIA on March 15. Now, NPR reports, three local chefs are recreating Kahlo's beloved dishes in concert with the opera's debut.

Drawing on family recipes published by Rivera's daughter Gaudalupe Rivera and Clarkston Potter, Israel Rocha of La Terraza, Luis Garza of El Asador, and Norberto Garita of El Barzon, will attempt to capture the breadth and spirit of authentic Mexican cookery.

"Sometimes people come in [to my restaurant] and say, 'Can I have chimichangas?'" Garza says, pausing. "And I say, 'No.' I want to bring something different, besides rice and beans and tacos."

Rocha's menu will feature seafood dishes and posole stew with hominy and dried chiles. Garza and Garita plan to focus mainly on moles including pork in yellow mole, mole negro Oaxaqueno, and mole pablano. Menus will also include oyster soup, red snapper veracruzana, and chiles en nogadas stuffed with cheese.

The DIA will also feature a pop-up Mexican restaurant during the museum's upcoming exhibition.