Inside an office space the chef shares with Barrio Café co-founder and business partner Wendy Gruber, there’s an area called the WalkBy Gallery, where rotating exhibits are visible through large windows flanking the sidewalk. Small paintings and drawings by artists whose subjects range from lucha libre wrestlers to mariachi skeletons lend warmth and charm to the cafe. But she is also attracted by their aesthetics. A collaborative mural at the Barrio Café featuring lowriders painted by Lalo Cota (photo Lynn Trimble/Hyperallergic)įor Esparza, who moved to Phoenix in 1995, lowriders represent Chicano culture and community. Behind the cafe, artist Lalo Cota paired images of tacos with lowriders, paying homage to the chef’s immersion in local lowrider culture and his collection of cars – including one bearing the airbrushed image of Cota of the deceased chief’s beloved nephew, his head adorned with a golden crown. Opened northeast of downtown Phoenix in 2002, it’s a hub for arts and activism, where Esparza counters colonizer narratives through cuisine, culture and community.įor years, she has primarily commissioned Phoenix-based artists to paint indoor and outdoor murals that often center her Mexican heritage and creative interests beyond food.
PHOENIX - Pristine white plates frame the Mexican cuisine created by chef Silvana Salcido Esparza, whose dishes infused with pops of color echo the artwork that fills the walls of her Barrio Café.
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