Calendar

Kathy Griffin

The celebrity-bashing comic misses Mama Ninfa

A A A Comments By Dusti Rhodes Thursday, Nov 6 2008

Kathy Griffin wants to start out our interview with a word of thanks and praise (for herself, of course). “I really have been starting my shows with just thanking the audience for buying a ticket in this economy. It’s a big deal,” she says and then adds, “and it’s not lost on me.” The celebrity-attacking comic and star of her own reality show, My Life on the D-List, says she’s worth it but warns fans to leave their virgin ears at home. “I just want to give you a word of warning to keep an open mind. It’s going to be a lot of swearing, a lot of negativity and a lot of fun,” she says. Of course, things could go south if Griffin doesn’t find some quality, border-infused cuisine.

More About

“That would be a major problem for me — not to get the right Tex-Mex — because when I’m on tour it’s all about the food,” she says. Griffin fell in love with a local staple, The Original Mama Ninfa’s, on one of her first visits to the Bayou City. “I came to think of it as my own, personal Houston kitchen,” she says, although she was disappointed at a satellite location years later. “Someone took me to one of the ones in the ‘burbs — it was not the same. I did not feel anyone there was named Mama, I don’t think there was a Ninfa anywhere near, [and] I don’t think the tortillas were homemade,” she says. She tried another nonoriginal Ninfa’s again later on and was still disappointed. “I was doing a lot of bragging about my Tex-Mex experience and expertise, and it was not the same, and I was left crying, ‘What has happened to my Mama Ninfa?’” Here’s hoping that Griffin gets her Tex-Mex grub on before she performs at 7:30 and 10 p.m. today and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. Verizon Wireless Theater, 520 Texas. For information, call 713-629-3700 or visit www.verizonwirelesstheater.com. $39 to $69.
Sat., Nov. 8, 7:30 & 10 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., 2008

Check out this week's featured ad for Arts