Ninfa Laurenzo

Known to Houstonians as Mama Ninfa, Ninfa Rodriguez Laurenzo was president and owner of the family tortilla business, Rio Grande Food Products, when in 1973 she called her family together and made the “momentous yet daring decision to sell the tortilla business and embrace their dream of opening a truly different kind of Mexican restaurant.” Inspired by her childhood creativity and frequent travels to Mexico, she opened the original Ninfa’s on Navigation Boulevard that same year — a ten-table dining room where she became the first to introduce grilled fajitas wrapped in handmade flour tortillas to a full-service restaurant format. She called them Tacos al Carbon, a term now replaced nationwide by the word “fajitas” and copied in kitchens across the United States. Her unique style became known as the new Tex-Mex, and what began as a tiny East End taqueria grew into a Houston institution that launched one of the city’s most influential restaurant families. Mother-in-law of STHS alum Damian Mandola ’71 and mother of STHS alumni Roland ’65, Jack ’68, and Gino ’81. Ninfa passed away in 2001, but her culinary legacy lives on through her family’s restaurants across Houston.