“Mex-Mex” is simply Mexican food, a term that’s a spin-off of “Tex-Mex.” “New Mex-Mex” is New Mexican-Mexican food.
 
The term “Mex-Mex” may have been coined at Pico’s in Houston, and the term “New Mex-Mex” may have been coined at Chuy’s in Austin.
 
   
Pico’s
TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY
MEXICAN CUISINE
Pico’s Mex-Mex Restaurant, with its innovative regional Mexican menu, is ideal for satisfying those Mexican food cravings. Enjoy fresh seafood or spinach enchiladas, pollo pibil (marinated chicken snuggled in banana leaves and baked to tender perfection) or camarones adobados (jumbo Gulf shrimp, bacon-wrapped and basted with adobo sauce). Relax on the palapa-covered patio to the music of strolling musicians and enjoy a Margarita from one of the best selections in the city. Discover Pico’s Mex-Mex ….discover the cuisine of Mexico. 
 
Chuy’s
There are hundreds of details that go into running a restaurant. But food gets our top priority. It always has. Before Elvis’ image was ever spotted on a Chuy’s tortilla, before we created a swirl margarita, we talked about the food we’d serve.

We wanted to preserve the homey feeling of the way restaurants were in the 50’s. That meant creating a menu that reminded us of home. Which is exactly where we looked to find our tasty recipes. They came from friends and family who created them from scratch, or had them handed down from family before them. Some recipes originated in the Rio Grande Valley and the Davis Mountains. Still others came from New Mexico. A few recipes we tweaked. Others we left alone. But every ingredient had to be fresh. The results have been tasty ever since. Do it for yourself. Do it for your stomach. 

14 September 2006, Austin American-Statesman, XLENT (entertainment magazine), pg. 7:
Chuy’s: Can you resist a room covered in hubcaps in a restaurant teeming with energy (from the dozens of University of Texas students willing to wait more than an hour for a table on an average evening)? If not, this spot will perk up your spirit and fill you with New Mex-Mex, a style of Mexican food that features stacked enchiladas and green chiles—a sharp contrast to the traditional Tex-Mex menu found most places in town. 1728 Barton Springs Road, 474-4452.
   
Google Groups: rec.food.restaurants
From:  William Watson
Date:  Thurs, Aug 30 1990 9:51 am

Some of my favorite “mexican” restaurants in Austin serve New Mex-Mex food.  All of the locations of Chuy’s have blue corn tortillas, and I believe that they serve sopapillas as well. Manuel’s in downtown Austin also serves New Mex-Mex cuisine. I suspect that New Mex-Mex is also served elsewhere in the country.
 
Google Groups: rec.travel
From:  William Harriman
Date:  Sun, Jun 19 1994 10:16 pm

While in Houston put these two restaurants on you list, both are resonably prioops that was “priced” , offer good value and are among the best in they’re class.  Pico’s (2 locations) offers fantastic Mexican food, not the usual Tex Mex but food with wonderful sauces that they prefer to call Mex Mex.  For barbeque in Houston the standard is Good’s Barbeque - it is excellent and probably without doubt the best in town. 

Google Groups: houston.eats
From:  TruskiDo
Date:  Tues, Jun 4 1996 12:00 am

In article <31B49ECD.5…@nettap.com>, Sudeep Dhillon

writes:
>Have you tried ZuZu at Champions and FM 1960.  Great casual food.  I was
>amazed at the quality of the food you get for $5-6.  Not a casual sit
>down resturant but more like Jason’s deli where you go up and order the
>food.  Does it qualify for NuMex

This debate really puzzles me.  I consider “New Mexican” to be stuff like green chiles, pozole, and blue corn tortillas, etc. which is available at Mesa (for the most part). TexMex is enchiladas, tacos, etc. ZuZu’s is “New TexMex” for lack of a better name—fresher, more authentic Tex-Mex sans Velveeta sauce. And then there’s “Mex-mex” (coined by Pico’s) which is more authentic mexican (also available at Merida).  But I gues the phrase “NuMex” is puzzling because I don’t know if it means New Mexican or New “Tex-Mex.”   
   
(Trademark)
Word Mark FRONTERA MEX-MEX GRILL
Translations The English translation of “FRONTERA” is “border”.
Goods and Services IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: restaurant services, namely restaurants specializing in Mexican cuisine. FIRST USE: 19960101. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19960101
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Design Search Code
Serial Number 74693342
Filing Date June 26, 1995
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition March 12, 1996
Owner (APPLICANT) Sanchez, Norberto INDIVIDUAL MEXICO 5060 North Royal Atlanta Road, #30 Tucker GEORGIA 30084
Attorney of Record James B. Middleton
Disclaimer NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE “MEX-MEX GRILL” APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark MEX MEX
Goods and Services IC 029. US 046. G & S: Canned goods, namely, vegetables, mushrooms. FIRST USE: 20041212. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20041212
IC 030. US 046. G & S: Canned Mexican-style food, namely, salsa casera, namely, chopped chile and tomato sauce, green chile sauce passed through a mill, mole in adobo, namely, mole in seasoning, diced nopalitos, namely, cactus leaves in oil and in natural form, liquid red chile sauce, liquid green chile sauce, mole paste, green mole. FIRST USE: 20041212. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20041212
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Design Search Code
Serial Number 76315689
Filing Date September 21, 2001
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition October 8, 2002
Registration Number 3087895
Registration Date May 2, 2006
Owner (REGISTRANT) Herdez S.A. de C.V. CORPORATION MEXICO Corporativo Cinco S.A. de C.V. Monte Pelvoux No. 215, Col. Lomas de Chapultepec Delegacion Miguel Hidalgo C.P. 11000 MEXICO
Attorney of Record Kristina M. Foudray
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE