editor Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 A while back there was a discussion here on HAIF about how Houston should have a food of its own. New York has cheesecake and steaks, Seattle has coffee, Chicago has deep dish pizza, London has fish and chips, Tokyo has sushi, etc... so Houston should have an iconic food item, too.Maybe everyone knows this already and I'm just too Yankee to be on the bandwagon, but according to what I just saw on the Food Network, Houston made Fajitas mainstream (and Dallas did so with nachos, but that's another story). According to the show, fajitas were invented in the 1940's by Texas cowboys, and that Ninfa's in Houston was the first restaurant to serve them to the public. I always knew Ninfa's was a big deal in Houston because people talked about it all the time, but no one ever explained the history to me; I just thought people liked the food. Now that I'm enlightened, I am proclaiming Houston The Fajita Capitol Of The World.If anyone has a picture of fajitas or can take a snap of one with their cameraphone at lunch today, I'll use it to make a HAIF title graphic like the ones for Christmas and Mother's Day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vertigo58 Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Barbecue for Houston. It's all the rage at every Rodeo event. Every ethnicity makes it and its always great. Ninfa does not deserve the credit for any specific food. She was only known for being a trailblazer for women in starting up a business, etc. She's over rated.Barbecue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 Barbecue for Houston. It's all the rage at every Rodeo event. Every ethnicity makes it and its always great. Ninfa does not deserve the credit for any specific food. She was only known for being a trailblazer for women in starting up a business, etc. She's over rated.Barbecue!Barbecue is too generic. Lots of cities claim barbecue as their own: Dallas, Shreveport, Charlotte, Memphis, Nashville, Kansas City, even Cincinnati!According to an hour-long documentary on barbecue I saw on the History Channel, the concept of barbecue is from Haitian indians, and came to America through the traders in North Carolina.Ninfa may be over-rated, but she's at least a Houstonian and at least had the luck/foresight/whatever to serve fajitas in her restaurant first. As explained in the Food Network show, nachos were an accidental success, too; but still a success. And if Houston doesn't declare itself the birthplace of fajitas, people will continue to assume that they're from Mexico. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToolMan Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Here is a link to your story: In 1948, Ninfa Rodriguez Laurenzo, a Mexican-American woman, and her Italian-American husband, Tommy Laurenzo, opened a tortilla and pizza dough factory in Houston. The factory wasn't succeeding, so they borrowed money and opened a Mexican restaurant called Ninfa's. Because the restaurant became so popular, they closed down the tortilla factory and concentrated on the restaurant. Around 1973, Nifa's version of the fajita was created at the suggestion of a customer who had just returned from a trip to Mexico City and asked the staff to slice a piece of steak into thin strips so he could make an upscale taco. Once the accompaniments were added - cilantro, onion, tomatoes, chilies, sour cream, and cheese - the new fajita dish became a house specialty. Originally called "tacos al carbon," it was later trademarked as "tacos a la Ninfa." Later the restaurant begin to use the term "fajitas." Ninfa's Fajitas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 And if Houston doesn't declare itself the birthplace of fajitas, people will continue to assume that they're from Mexico.we're not the birthplace of fajitas. definitely a border thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Agreed. Texas has a true local cuisine - Tex-Mex. It seems any true local food to publicize would have to be something like fajitas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
native_Houstonian Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Well, Mama Ninfa does deserve the credit for bringing fajitas to the mainstream. She was the first to start serving them to the gringos of Houston.As far as cowboys in the '40s eating fajitas, I'm going to have to disagree with that one. Fajitas were eaten by Rancheros a lot earlier than that. When a calf was slaughtered on a ranch for the owner, the farmhands were given everthing the owner didn't want. Thus, was born fajitas (inside skirt steak - originally meat from the inside of the ribs), menudo (tripe), lengua (tounge), barbacoa (cheek meat). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Fajitas works. I am too full on a Monday to go order a plate and take a picture. I spent all weekend eating Tex-Mex, of course.One thing that is Houston is kolaches. I could hardly find them in Dallas. The sausage kind, of course, even though a real Bohunk will tell you that's not a true kolache. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 we're not the birthplace of fajitas. definitely a border thing.Well yeah, but Seattle isn't the birthplace of coffee, nor Chicago of pizza. Isn't a matter of popularization and specialization? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Well yeah, but Seattle isn't the birthplace of coffee, nor Chicago of pizza. Isn't a matter of popularization and specialization?i can agree. but i think it would be more than fajitas but texmex in general. a good bowl of frijoles a la charra would be great right now!One thing that is Houston is kolaches. I could hardly find them in Dallas. The sausage kind, of course, even though a real Bohunk will tell you that's not a true kolache.klobase! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 Well yeah, but Seattle isn't the birthplace of coffee, nor Chicago of pizza. Isn't a matter of popularization and specialization?Bingo. Someone gets it. That's why I used the word fajita "capitol" instead of "birthplace."For the benefit of those of you who prefer to believe conventional wisdom and urban legend over research, the explanation on the Food Network went thusly:The cowboy slang for what we now call "skirt steak" was "faja" -- likely a corruption of the Spanish word for "belt" (falda.) It isn't a particularly great piece of meat, which is why it has to be sliced thin and at a particular angle to the grain to make it taste better and easier to eat. The cowboys on the range paired these thin strips of meat up with the ubiquitous tortillas, yes probably along the border but then the border was much fuzzier in those days, and "faja"+"tortilla" became "fajita."It's interesting that the description from Ninfa's web page doesn't align with the Food Network story, considering the fact that the Food Network shot some of its show at Ninfa's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 A typical (and kind of lame) use of foods like this is in sports championship games, where the mayor of City A makes a bet with the mayor of City B for delivery of some specialty local food. Does anyone know what the food bet was with St Louis when Houston was in the World Series a couple years ago? Was it fajitas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Houston wagered some 'Que. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 Houston wagered some 'Que.When the White Sox were in the World Series, Chicago put up barbecue, too (from Carson's). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I just don't see the Houston and 'Que connection.Sure, it's a staple like water and white bread, but it's more central Texas terriroty. And what makes that unique is the use of beef and mesquite. That's what seperates Texas 'Que from the immators and emulators. Not to mention the pig picklers back East. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Well yeah, but Seattle isn't the birthplace of coffee, nor Chicago of pizza. Isn't a matter of popularization and specialization?Actually, a Texan invented Chicago-style pizza. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonmacbro Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Fajitas works. I am too full on a Monday to go order a plate and take a picture. I spent all weekend eating Tex-Mex, of course.One thing that is Houston is kolaches. I could hardly find them in Dallas. The sausage kind, of course, even though a real Bohunk will tell you that's not a true kolache.I love Kolaches! And you're right ... I think the only place you can reliably find such a variety (kolaches as well as establishments that make them) is Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croberts Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Maybe everyone knows this already and I'm just too Yankee to be on the bandwagon, but according to what I just saw on the Food Network, Houston made Fajitas mainstream (and Dallas did so with nachos, but that's another story). According to the show, fajitas were invented in the 1940's by Texas cowboys, and that Ninfa's in Houston was the first restaurant to serve them to the public. I always knew Ninfa's was a big deal in Houston because people talked about it all the time, but no one ever explained the history to me; I just thought people liked the food. Now that I'm enlightened, I am proclaiming Houston The Fajita Capitol Of The World.If anyone has a picture of fajitas or can take a snap of one with their cameraphone at lunch today, I'll use it to make a HAIF title graphic like the ones for Christmas and Mother's Day.Fajitas were invented in San Antonio. Originally, they were served only on sunday, after mass, family style. You would order by the pound (there was one kind, beef) and sit at long retangular tables, and big bowls of guac, tortillas, pico de gallo, sour cream, etc. Thats why they come unasembled. If any restaraunt popularized them it was margaritas on the mercado.Ninfas started marketing them as tacos al carbon, already made, but you only got a few. This was in the 1970s. Friends from san antonio saw me order them, then took me to san antonio local restaruants including margaritas, on sunday. It was a post mass family event.San antonio has two distinct foods that I think grew out of the hide and tallow industry. The spanish cattle were bread for their hides (replaced today by plastic) and tallow. This meant that they were not good meat cows. The tough or greay parts of the meet were simply discarded by the hyde and tallow factories. This created an oportunity. Thus chili con carne, marinated spiced, cut into small pieces and cooked for hours originated in san antonio. I believe that fajitas originated the same way. I remember trying to get skirt steak in houston in the 1970s and butchers told me that they dont do trashy cuts.My candidate for a distinctive houston food would have to be Antoine/s poor boys. They are not made anywhere else, prior to the antones chain. They were started in the 30s or 40s in Houston, by decendents of Antoines of New Orleans. Later descendents started Antoines blues club in austin, and briefly sold poorboys there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppahop Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 You can get po' boys like Antone's in New Orleans too, and that cold-cut/french bread sandwich is available under other names all over America.What about the Vietnamese po' boy as a Houston icon?As for kolaches, you can get them in Prague, and I bet wherever Czechs have settled in America too. And even in Texas, the best ones are in places like Halletsville, Brenham and Colombus. Seems like you should have the best of something if you want to be the capital of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 I've had the kolaches in Praha but they didn't seem the same. Too sugary. And I don't recall seeing one with sausage. All the sausage I saw look like what you find in Wenceslas Square and served with a bun. Yum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 The banh mi is a nice fit, but NYC already thinks they invented it. At least the NYC section of Chowhound.com does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToolMan Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 I beleive the po' boys were first made in New Orleans during the great depression. I have eaten the best po' boy in my life in NO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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