The best Mexican food in Texas since Texas was in Mexico™

Mama Ninfa started something
money can’t buy – tradition

Welcome to where it all began: This is The Original Ninfa’s.

When Mama Ninfa Laurenzo first began grilling skirt steak then placing the sizzling meat in a handmade flour tortilla, all from inside her family’s struggling tortilla factory in Houston’s East End, she had no idea she had jumpstarted a culinary revolution. It was 1973, her husband Domenic had just passed away, and Mama Ninfa was cooking to take care of her children – and provide her beloved community mouthwatering comfort food along the way.

The dish she created was tacos al carbon, which the whole world would eventually come to know as fajitas, the bedrock of Tex-Mex cuisine.

We lost Mama Ninfa in 2001, but her legacy of love and fierce skill continues.

A James Beard Award semifinalist in 2019, The Original Ninfa’s masterfully combines a commitment to comfort and tradition with a sense of culinary adventure.

Casual and fun, yet historic and elevated, The Original Ninfa’s offers the best Mexican food since Texas was in Mexico at two Houston locations: Ninfa’s on Navigation and Ninfa’s Uptown.