Ninfa's on the move

Iconic Tex-Mex restaurant picks Galleria area for all-new second location

Ninfa's fajitas are coming to the Galleria area.

Photo by Cooper + Ricca

Galleria-area shoppers will soon be able to get their fix of green salsa, fajitas, and Ninfaritas. The Original Ninfa's on Navigation announced that it will open a second location in the BLVD Place mixed-use complex that it's calling The Original Ninfa's Uptown Houston.

Slated to open in "late spring 2019," the new Ninfa's will claim the former Peska space at the corner of Post Oak and San Felipe. The restaurant has tapped Austin's acclaimed Michael Hsu Office of Architecture to transform the almost 300-seat restaurant. Changes to the kitchen will include the installation of a wood-burning grill and oven, and, of course, the installation of a tortilla station in view of the dining room.

“We obviously can’t recreate the interior design of the 45-year-old restaurant on Navigation, but we will make this modern location feel as comfortable and inviting as The Original,” Legacy Restaurants CEO Jonathan Horowitz said in a statement. “It will both be an homage to the Navigation restaurant and an appealing destination for customers who live and/or work in the Uptown Houston area.”

Although a handful of other Ninfa's locations exist, they operate under a longstanding license agreement. The new restaurant will be the only one owned and operated by the same company as the original on Navigation.

One thing that won't change between Navigation and the Galleria restaurants is the menu. Expect it to feature the same fajitas, margaritas, and Tex-Mex favorites that Ninfa's has been serving since the '70s. Executive chef Alex Padilla will oversee the kitchen, which will be under the day-to-day direction of a chef de cuisine that Padilla will train.

“We have been looking for a premier location for the first ‘new’ Original Ninfa’s, and we have been focused on the Galleria/Uptown area for some time,” Horowitz added. “The size of this space and its location are just what we were searching for. As for the restaurant itself, we don’t see the need to make any significant changes to The Original Ninfa’s formula – both the classic items and the exciting new additions Chef Padilla has made over the past 12 years are extremely popular with our guests. If it’s not broken, we’re not going to try to fix it.”

As Horowitz noted, Legacy has been looking to bring Ninfa's to the Galleria area for some time. In 2017, the company had reached a tentative agreement with Lasco Enterprises to takeover the Anejo space in Uptown Park, but the space's landlords, AmREIT Uptown Park, LP and Edens Limited Partnership, wouldn't consent to the switch. A lawsuit related to that situation is still ongoing.

A new Ninfa's isn't the only way Legacy plans to grow the brand. The company also announced plans to open a fast casual spin-off called Mama Ninfa’s Tacos y Tortas. The first location of that concept will open in downtown's Understory food hall in 2019.

tex-mex news-you-can-eat openings

head east

Eagerly-anticipated Houston barbecue joint hosts weekend preview pop-ups

Courtesy of Eastbound Barbecue

Get a first taste of Eastbound Barbecue this weekend.

One of Houston’s most eagerly anticipated new barbecue joints is giving diners a preview of what’s to come. Eastbound Barbecue will host “Sneak Peak Weekends” every Saturday and Sunday beginning this Saturday, December 20, until the restaurant opens in early 2026.

Held at the restaurant’s location in the East End (1105 Sampson Street) from 12-4 pm (or sold out), the weekend service gives diners their first chance to try Eastbound Barbecue’s smoked meats, sides, and desserts. That includes, smoked brisket, baby back ribs, jalapeno & cheese sausage, hatch chili lasagna mac & cheese, herbed potato salad, and more. Save room for the two dessert offerings, salted caramel banana pudding and cookie butter cake.

To distinguish Eastbound’s barbecue, chefs Lopez and Granville use different seasonings than other restaurants, such as rosemary salt in the brisket rub and a miso-caramel sauce that gives its ribs a sweet and savory bite. During the preview, Eastbound’s prices are noticeably lower than many other Houston barbecue joints, with brisket priced at $29 per pound, ribs at $26 per pound, and pulled pork at $22 per pound.

As CultureMap reported in August, Eastbound unites four friends, Ryan Penn, Ryan Powell, Luis Lopez, and Jake Granville, who also held senior roles at various restaurants owned by prominent Houston chef Ronnie Killen. Since then, the four partners have finished many of the improvements they needed to make prior to opening, including closing in the patio and installing offset smokers on the property.

For Penn, leaving the Killen’s organization after almost 20 years was a difficult decision, but one he felt he had to make. “I could have worked for [Killen] forever and been happy. It was more along the lines of, if I don’t do this now, I don’t want to be 70 and wish that I had,” he said at the time.

Courtesy of Eastbound Barbecue

Get a first taste of Eastbound Barbecue this weekend.

news-you-can-eat barbecue openings