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 development of the cuisine in the city. Tex-Mex cuisine in Houston began in the late 1800s, when street vendors appeared. Most were Hispanic, black and Native American. In 1901 Tex-Mex good vendors began moving to indoor venues after the city government prohibited open-air food vending at Market Square. In 1907 a food safety campaign began, and the resulting laws lead to many street vendors going out of business. By 1910, while some food vendors remained in business, restaurants began to replace the food vendors. The first Tex Mex restaurant in Houston was Original Mexican Restaurant; George Caldwell, a non-Hispanic White