Refried beans Refried beans Refried beans (Spanish: "frijoles refritos") is a dish of cooked and mashed beans and is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a different approach when making the dish. Refried beans are also popular in many other Latin American countries. The name is a direct calque of Spanish "frijoles refritos", "refritos" meaning "rehashed" or "reheated" in English. In this dish, after being boiled and then mashed into a paste, the beans are sometimes then fried or baked, though usually neither, thus making the term "refried" even more misleading. In northern Mexico and in
Tex-Mex cuisine in Houston "the new Mexican restaurants weren't much more authentic than the ones they replaced." Ninfa's began serving fajitas in 1973, and other restaurants followed suit. Many of the foods originated from Tejano people from West Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, and not from central Mexico. Many older style Mexican restaurants declined and/or went out of business. Some old-style restaurants were frequented by older people who have a nostalgia for older cooking. Some old-style restaurants cater to families with young children who may dislike the bolder flavors in newer Houston Tex-Mex. In 1977 Richard West of the "Texas Monthly" stated that