One of Montrose’s favorite breakfast spots will soon have a sister concept in Oak Forest. La Mexicana has signed on to bring LaMex, a new fast-casual concept, to Re:Vive Development’s Ella Oaks shopping center.

LaMex will serve breakfast and lunch daily. With a prime location at the corner of 34th St. and Ella Blvd., the restaurant is poised to fill a niche in the neighborhood for breakfast tacos and other Mexican dishes that’s been absent since El Rey vacated the neighborhood. If all goes according to plan, the restaurant expects to open in either late summer or early fall 2019.

The restaurant will be operated by La Mexicana’s current general manager, Zulema Gonzales, the daughter of La Mexicana owners Eduardo and America Treviño, along with her siblings Dante and Briseida Treviño.

“We’re opening a new restaurant to grow from what my parents have built here at La Mexicana. We felt we always had other locations in mind, we always had expansions in mind,” Gonzales tells CultureMap. “Around last year, we all had a conversation. They said, now’s the time to give it a shot.”

After a search for a suitable space downtown came up short, their attention turned to Oak Forest. Gonzales, a graduate of Eisenhower High School, had ties to the area. In addition, the opportunity to be part of a center anchored by two of La Mexciana’s Montrose neighbors — BB’s Cafe and Aladdin Mediterranean Cuisine — proved too tempting to resist.

“We’re concentrating on our strongest day parts, which is breakfast of course, that we serve all day, and lunch,” Gonzales says. “The food is the same, the recipes are the same. The offerings might not be as extensive, but it’s the things we feel are the most popular, the best selling items.”