The original Ninfa’s Tex-Mex restaurant opened in Houston, Texas.
Ninfa Laurenzo founded the restaurant in 1973 in Houston’s East End neighborhood. It became especially famous for serving fajitas, helping popularize the dish in Tex-Mex restaurants beyond Texas.
The restaurant’s original name was Ninfa’s on Navigation Boulevard, referring to its location on Houston’s Navigation Boulevard. “Ninfa’s” is commonly associated with the founder, Ninfa Laurenzo, rather than with San Antonio, another major center of Tex-Mex cuisine.
Ninfa’s later expanded into additional locations, but Houston remains its birthplace and the city most closely linked with the restaurant’s early history.