(Image: Frye Art Museum)

(Image: Maripili)

MariPili owner and chef Grayson Corrales received an email in her inbox last December notifying her that Frye Art Museum was looking for new energy to run Café Frieda, a cafeteria space within the First Hill cultural center that has been closed for over three years after the catering company running it changed their business model due to the pandemic. Corrales applied, not expecting the café to be in the cards. Now, MariPili will be opening at Café Frieda next month.

On her first day in a new position, Frye Museum executive director Jamilee Lacy tasted food from multiple Seattle-area businesses who wanted to run the café in January. Lacy was looking for food that was different from the usual museum cafeteria fare. She kept her vision for “fine dining in the daytime” in mind, and says MariPili was the clear leader.

“It became really clear to me, and aligned best with my vision for the museum, that a small yet well-positioned, somewhat avant garde purveyor was the best way to go,” Lacy said.

Some details need to be worked out before the café stats its new life. Grayson says she’s still finishing placing equipment and setting up the POS system. One other employee will also need to be hired. The menu is still subject to change, but Corrales envisions quick, accessible, food service.

“It’s supposed to be a menu that’s more approachable and faster to fire so that the hospital workers surrounding the Frye Museum can stop in and grab a sandwich on their lunch break,” Corrales said.

Churros and bravas will be on the menu as some of the most casual menu items at MariPili’s Capitol Hill location, Corrales says. A burger she created for Li’l Woody’s seafood month, with a chorizo spiced cod patty and pickled fennel slaw, was well received and will also be on the menu.

“Fennel is really nostalgic for me when thinking about Galicia because it’s all over the streets,” Corrales said. “It kind of grows like weed along all of the roads, I think that was really cute.”

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Corrales speaks highly of the Frye’s intimate space as the cafe’s look and feel is being reimagined by design firm Print Club

“I think it’s really special how it’s not a huge museum, so there’s a lot of space held for us,” Corrales said. “[The café is] kind of this cool crossover of the Frye’s colors and aesthetics and Maripili’s colors and aesthetics. The design process was really collaborative.”

Lacy says MariPili does a good job of bringing in a global perspective while privileging local flavors.

“Chef Grayson brings recipes mostly from the Galician area of Spain into the cafe and then gives them an experimental boost with local ingredients,” Lacy said.

MariPili at Café Frieda carries influences from a trio of feminine figures significant to both collaborators. The Frye’s part of the trio is in the name of the cafe. Frieda Sondland visited the Frye Museum every day in her retirement. CHS touched on the Sondland family history and its Frye connection here in 2019 during an infamous chapter in American political history.

On MariPili’s side, the figures include Corrales’ aunt, who the restaurant is named after, and Corrales’s grandmother.

“My restaurant concept is based on my grandma and her heritage and culture. Maripili itself is my way of exploring my family’s history and culture and identity,” Corrales said.

The expansion to the Frye comes about a year after MariPili opened, taking Cafe Presse’s place in May 2022. CHS reported here about MariPili’s opening during a pandemic and cooling economy. At the time, Corrales said her first goal was to build a “a small amazing core crew.” She must have done it right, the first prep cook at MariPili will be helping her open the café.

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While she’s getting MariPili at Café Frieda running, Corrales is hoping to create more stability at the main restaurant by adding additional staff. She has hopes she wont need to be there all day, every day.

“I’m planning on spending a good part of my day at the Frye, to make sure operations are good there, and then evenings, as soon as the Frye’s closed, I’ll move over to the restaurant,” Corrales said.

At the Frye, Lacy says there are also hopes to do more with Corrales’s culinary art.

“This won’t be the last you hear of cutting-edge fine dining experiences at the Frye,” Lacy says. “She is working with us to explore how we might find more ways to have visual art intersect with avant garde food here.

MariPili at Café Frieda will open in late October at the Frye Art Museum, 704 Terry Ave. Follow @maripili_at_cafe_frieda for updates.

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