Ninfa's

The Original Ninfa's on Navigation is a popular Mexican restaurant located at 2704 Navigation Boulevard in Houston, Texas. The restaurant serves both Tex-Mex and Mexican cuisine. The Original Ninfa's was started by Ninfa Rodríguez Laurenzo, a Mexican-American woman, in a tortilla factory. Ninfa Laurenzo became a full-time restaurateur and the tortilla factory closed. Mama Ninfa is widely credited with popularizing the fajita among Houstonians.

Dai Huynh of the Houston Chronicle said that the Ninfa's locations opened after the first two restaurants "failed to attract the following of earlier restaurants." Tom Laurenzo said that the Laurenzo family never became very wealthy while it controlled the Ninfa's restaurants. He said "Everything was put back into the business." When the Laurenzo family controlled the restaurant chain, it was managed by Ninfa's Inc., which became a subsidiary of the Laurenzo-controlled holding company RioStar Corp.

In 1973, Ninfa Laurenzo, a widow with five children, established Ninfa's, then a taco stand, as a side business due to financial troubles with her original core business, a tortilla factory. Laurenzo's factory was losing money, and she needed to update her equipment in order to comply with new regulations. When Laurenzo decided to establish a restaurant, she applied for loans at several banks. The banks turned her down, so a friend in Mexico City loaned her several thousand dollars. Laurenzo divided the factory facility in half. The back of the factory continued to act as a tortilla factory, while the front had ten tables and 40 chairs. Laurenzo used discarded second hand furniture and pots and pans from her kitchen in the restaurant. The Ninfa's restaurant opened in July of that year. The cuisine at Ninfa's differed from the cuisine of Tex Mex restaurants at the time. The restaurant almost closed after a fire struck one week after its initial opening. Dai Huynh of the Houston Chronicle said "Word quickly spread about the East End restaurant with good, cheap food and an outgoing Mexican Mama who greeted diners with open arms."

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