Tex-Mex Hits New York

Famous Houston blogger brings authentic Tex-Mex to New York City: New restaurant's a big step for Gotham

For 10 years, native Houstonian Lisa Fain has been spreading the gospel of Texas cooking via her Homesick Texan blog and two best-selling cookbooks. Fain's ability to translate Texas comfort food has been so well-regarded that she won a James Beard Award for her blog in 2014.

Still, in order to sample Fain's recipes, a would-be diner had to prepare the meal him or herself. For New Yorkers, that's no longer the case, as Fain has partnered with two other Texans to open a Tex-Mex restaurant called El Original in Hell's Kitchen. After a couple of weeks of soft-opening, El Original made its official debut on April 10.

Fain tells CultureMap that she had been approached by people about opening a restaurant before, but she never took the idea seriously until she met Fort Worth native Michael Ginsberg.

"He’s a big fan of my blog and my work," Fain tells CultureMap in a phone interview from New York. "We totally hit it off. He told me about his plans to open a restaurant with Paul Oveisi from Austin . . . They asked me if I wanted to be involved in any way. It took me a couple months to come around, but it’s been a lot of fun."

"I went in there and worked with him and developed the menu. Basically, I taught all the non-Texans about Texas food."

Fain is a limited partner in El Original and serves as executive consulting chef. "I went in there and taught our executive chef how to make everything," Fain says. "I went in there and worked with him and developed the menu. Basically, I taught all the non-Texans about Texas food."

In addition to El Original, another Tex-Mex restaurant called Javelina has also recently opened in New York. Both restaurants are having a bit of a moment, garnering attention from both Grubstreet and Eater. Fain cites the global rise of interest in Texas barbecue and an interest in the culinary treasures of the Lone Star State that began with Top Chef: Texas in 2011 as two contributing factors to spurring New Yorkers want to sample the cuisine.

"A lot of New Yorkers go to Texas. They go to Texas and they come back to New York and they miss breakfast tacos, they miss cheese enchiladas, they miss queso," Fain says.

For Fain, part of the appeal of El Original is that it gives her a break from sitting at a keyboard all day.

"I was an editor until I started food writing full time. I left my magazine job five years ago. I’ve written two cookbooks," Fain says. "For me, the restaurant is a nice sabbatical from writing . . . It’s nice to get out and interact with people."

Still, Fain expects to be back at her desk soon. She has a proposal out for her third book.

In the meantime, it's good to know that homesick Texans in the city that never sleeps can find a taste of home at El Original.

Lisa Fain, who won a James Beard Award for her Homesick Texan blog, has entered the restaurant business.

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Photo by Jan Cobb

Lisa Fain, who won a James Beard Award for her Homesick Texan blog, has entered the restaurant business.

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Esquire's Best New Restaurants

Esquire names Houston's West African eatery to best new restaurants list

Photo by StuffBenEats

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It’s a ChòpnBlọk world, and we’re all living in it. The Houston restaurant is the only Texas representative to make Esquire’s list of The Best New Restaurants in America, 2025.

Published Monday, December 1, the list includes 33 restaurants from across the country. New York City leads the list with seven representatives, followed by greater Los Angeles, which earns six spots, including Restaurant of the Year for RVR, an izakaya in Venice, California.

The quality of the restaurants they’ve discovered has put the magazine in a celebratory mood.

“This year at Esquire we’ve seen dozens of new restaurants like this, places where spectacular food is coupled with a damn good time — where ambition and abandon meet,” Joshua David Stein writes. “These are the places you hate to leave, but when you do, you leave full. Full of some of the most deeply personal food you can remember eating, full of joy and ideas and hope. You stumble out, way past your bedtime, practically dancing in the street.”

Turning to ChòpnBlọk, Stein notes that founder Ope Amosu has already partnered with Houston hip-hop legend Bun B and the Rockets — and hints that more locations may be on the way. Still, it’s West African restaurant’s creative fare hat sets it apart.

“Recent years are littered with the carcasses of failed fast-casual concepts. But Ope Amosu’s ChòpnBlok seems destined for success, borne on the tide of seven tremendous rice bowls,” he writes. “The rices range from the Ghanaian fried rice known as waakye — pronounced ‘watchee’ — to diaspora-bridging jollof jambalaya. Along with the rices come ikoyi shrimp or yaji vegetables finished with yassa curry or red stew and plantains.”

Reached for comment, Amosu sent the following text to celebrate his restaurant’s success.

When we say “Africa to the world,” these are amongst the reflections we envision.

Being named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants is bigger than us. It’s a win for our community, our culture, the diaspora. We’re grateful to see our West African cuisine and narrative taking up space and shifting the conversation around what American dining at its best can be. And to do this while reppin’ ‘the H’… Man!!! Hol’ up!!!

We move with the flavors, stories, and traditions that shaped us. It’s what we know and how we will continue to show up.

I’m humbled in the best way and still locked in… ten toes down! Our community and the city of Houston just caught another win and it feels right! What an honor!

In 2024, Esquire named Afro-Mexican restaurant Late August as its only Houston best new restaurant. In 2023, it named Montrose restaurant Nonno’s Family Pizza Tavern as its Pizza Joint of the Year.

First opened as a stand at the Post Market food hall downtown, Amosu opened ChòpnBlok’s first standalone location in Montrose on October 1, 2024 (Nigerian Independence Day). It features a West African-inspired design by Zainob Amao of AMAO Creative in collaboration with Gin Braverman of Gin Design Group.

Being included in Esquire is only the latest national recognition for ChòpnBlok. In September, the New York Times named it one of America’s 50 best restaurants. Last month, the Michelin Guide named it one of five new Houston restaurants to receive a Bib Gourmand designation.

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