In a dimly lit corner of his white tablecloth restaurant, Frederick Costa recalls the journey, the people and events that propelled him on a global adventure. A distant war. An assassination. Ambitious parents. A best friend who immigrated to America.
Memories swirl as he raises a glass of white wine.
It’s been 69 years since his family fled the emerging conflict in Vietnam for Nice, France, 62 years since the death of a U.S. president turned his heart to America, 48 years since he moved to Washington, D.C., with $300 and almost 25 years since he opened Frederick’s Restaurant on Broadway.
Along the way, he married and divorced, opened a French restaurant in San Antonio, split with his business partners, launched a cafe, went broke — “dead broke,” he emphasizes — recovered and found his groove in a French fusion restaurant that bears his name.
Frederick’s is one multi-flavored chapter of a travelogue that stretches from the Far East to Western Europe. The menu features French and Asian cuisine to go with a best-selling, Mexican-style parmesan cruster fish, a blend springing from a culinary family that carries French, Italian, Asian and Asian Chinese blood.
Frederick Costa, owner of Frederick’s Restaurant. Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report
“We are a big melting pot,” said Costa, who 15 years ago remarried a Puerto Rican woman.
The battle scars of business and life do not show. Costa has smooth skin. A youthful smile. A full head of mostly silver hair. He looks younger than his 71 years. “But I feel it,” he said with a thick French accent.
Costa is a world-traveling restaurateur, the youngest of three brothers raised in the business by Henri and Odette Costa. The couple enjoyed an idyllic early marriage in Vietnam. According to Costa, they had 14 servants at home and managed a French restaurant.
In 1954, the year Costa was born, war broke out and Henri and Odette lost their restaurant, home and land. In 1956, Henri and Odette moved to Europe. The family relocated to Paris in 1969 and opened a Vietnamese restaurant that earned a Michelin star. The culinary world held no appeal for Costa.
“I always tell my parents, ‘I am never going to be in the restaurant business,’” he recalled. “‘Never.’ I was studying physical therapy.”
A best friend from high school triggered the first turn of his heart. Theirry Burkle landed a job in Washington, D.C. and invited Costa to visit. The opportunity fulfilled a dream.
In 1963, Costa watched news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on his family’s black and white television in Bayonne, France. The tragedy marked him in an unexpected way.
“I say, ‘I want to go to America,’” he recalled. “I have so much love for the guy. So much respect for this country.”
Seventeen years later, Costa’s trip to the U.S. turned from visit to full-time job. He became a valet parker and salad boy at Rive Gauche, a since-closed, elegant French restaurant in Georgetown known for celebrity guests.
It was a favorite of JFK’s before he became president, a gathering place for Beltway power brokers and Hollywood actors.
“I was parking Rolls Royce’s at the time and getting $100 tips,” Costa recalled. “From there, I went to work in the kitchen. It was the most fancy restaurant. I used to wait on (Henry) Kissinger, Elizabeth (Taylor) Burton and Clint Eastwood.”
In 1984, Costa gathered his parents’ recipes from Vietnam and Paris and began a new venture. He and three chefs from Washington, D.C. — Burkle, Armand Obadia and Francis Perrin — moved to San Antonio, rented an apartment and planned an ambitious launch. One year later, they opened L’Etoile, an upscale French restaurant in Alamo Heights.
“I think we changed the cooking scene when we opened L’Etoile,” Costa said.
Costa, Burkle and Obadia later launched Powerhouse Cafe, a 22,000 square foot, three-level restaurant, private club and music venue at the Alamo Quarry Market. The cafe folded in 1999 before it was fully completed, leaving the owners awash in debt, Costa said.
He left L’Etoile and, despite the financial devastation, opened Frederick’s in 2000.
How?
“I borrowed money,” Costa said, citing a network of deep-pocketed friends in Alamo Heights.
Housed in the former home of Chez Ardid, Frederick’s combined French cuisine with Asian ingredients. The spring rolls, dumplings and caramelized pork ribs came straight from the family’s recipe book. Frederick’s attracted favorable reviews.
To Costa’s surprise, his chef produced a parmesan-crusted halibut topped with guacamole. The dish elicited a scolding in the kitchen. “Hey chef, we’re not a freakin’ Mexican restaurant,” Costa told Perrin.
The customers, however, loved it. Costa heard so many raves, he kept it on the menu.
Parmesan Cruster Fish of the Day with Avocado Relish from Frederick’s Restaurant. Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report
“He’s always looking to be relevant,” said Teresita Diaz-Cuevas de Costa, Frederick’s wife. “He’s always working on himself. When you work on yourself it will translate into your aura, essence, energy. His energy shows. It makes you feel at ease. It attracts people.”
In September, Frederick’s will mark its 25th anniversary. There is much to celebrate, many stories to tell. Fascinated by his ancestors, which includes a great, great grandfather who fought pirates on the high seas, Costa crafted the beginning of a family history.
“The story of the travels and occupation of the Costa family is a story of adventure and daring in the face of difficulty and social upheaval,” Costa wrote. “Spanning four countries (Indochina, France, Italy and the US), three continents and seven family-owned restaurants, it is a story of adaptation, personal loss and gain and the capacity to seize the opportunities that life presents and rise up again from the ashes.”