It’s bigger than beans!

From a Passion for BBQ to a Dream for Beans

Founded in 2017, Eddie O’s Texas Barbecue, led by BBQ cook and owner Eddie Ortiz, helped popularize and forward the traditions of Tejano barbecue in Houston. Homemade tortillas, salsas, pico de gallo, and frijoles charros replaced sliced bread, BBQ sauce, and potato salad. From its time as a new operation at D & T Drive Inn in the Heights, Houston to its statewide following and national press coverage in Bon Appétit Magazine, Eddie O’s entered the world of barbecue as and has remained the unanimous frijolero of Texas.

Although beans are the one item we’d pick every time to represent Eddie O’s, it’s important to understand that the smoked pork fat refried beans you’ve come to love today were born from the original frijoles charros served as part of our BBQ pop-ups. Those beans included traditional ingredients along with smoked beef sausage and chicharron. Overwhelmed with flavor, customers soon began calling the stewy cups “Magic Beans.”

Fast forward to the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic when food businesses began selling and packaging more friendly grab-and-go options, Eddie O’s upped its to-go offerings to include smoked brisket, rice, and refried beans plates served with fresh salsitas and homemade flour tortillas made by Ortiz’s grandmother. We decided the plates would fair better and remain in tact with thicker refried beans versus soupy charros. The popularity of these plates provided a regular occasion for cooking refried beans and… BOOM! Smoked pork fat refritos (refried beans) were born. Ortiz had the idea to replace his regular lard with butcher-sourced pork trimmings that he rendered into lard using his wood-fired 500 gallon smoker.

With an earthier bean flavor true to the BBQ roots of Eddie O’s, customer reception was nothing short of exciting. To keep pace, Eddie O’s practiced repeatedly, perfected ingredients and recipe details and its unique lard-rendering process, and commissioned a graphic designer to create artwork for became a new product vision. And when it came time to share his creation with the world, Eddie O’s chose microwave-safe 16oz pouches and naturally called them none other than “Magic Beans!” Today, these frijoles represent persistent dedication, showing up daily, and chomping with grit year over year in pursuit of your dreams. Such opportunity is accessible, much like frijoles, but only to those of us who seize it.