Drive south on Boones Ferry Road through Lake Grove this month and you will find three Mexican restaurant stories unfolding inside about half a mile. One has been there since 2012. One opened in April. One was supposed to open by the end of August.
That is not a coincidence of timing. It is the tail end of a story about a road project, a medical practice, and a family returning to a storefront two blocks away after its former restaurant location was acquired for a clinic expansion.
Three Restaurants, One Corridor
Start with the restaurant that was already there. Jefe, at 16360 Boones Ferry Road, has served traditional Mexican cuisine in Lake Grove since 2012 and built its reputation partly on a tequila and mezcal list that runs past sixty selections. It is the anchor the newer arrivals are opening around, not against.
Then, in April, OG Birrieria had its soft opening at 15840 Boones Ferry Road, a spot that had sat empty since the Giant Drive-In closed there in 2023. Owner Richard Hurtado first applied for a business license on the site back in 2024 and spent roughly two years working through permits and a remodel before the taqueria opened its doors on April 22 with birria, margaritas, and a full bar, running 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
The Lake Oswego Review reported that Mezcal Mexican Restaurant was set to open by the end of August at 15630 SW Boones Ferry Road, in the space that used to be Ivy's Pho & Grill. That one is the story worth slowing down for.
The Restaurant That's Coming Back, Not Just Opening
Mezcal isn't a new restaurant group testing the Lake Oswego market. It's owners Valentin and Rocio Soltero, who spent a decade running Corona Mexican Restaurant two blocks away, the first restaurant the couple ever opened. Their former location was acquired by Summit Orthopedics for a clinic expansion.
The Solteros didn't leave the corridor. They picked a spot two blocks north and started building a new menu around traditional Mexican dishes, seafood specials, and a full tequila bar, with a name that points straight at their own culture. The Lake Oswego Review quoted Valentin Soltero on the name: "We picked the name because of where we come from," and reported that he connected it to the agave plant and Mexico's broader drinking culture. The same report quoted Rocio Soltero: "People already know us," and "Some customers are asking when we are coming back."
That is the actual thesis here. Boones Ferry Road isn't discovering Mexican food. It's watching a family that already built one restaurant in the neighborhood rebuild a second one on the same half mile, with customer relationships that outlasted the storefront.
How the Corridor Has Changed
None of this happens on a road that still looks like it did ten years ago. The Boones Ferry Road Improvement Project, a near-mile-long reconstruction and widening of the corridor through Lake Grove, wrapped up in summer 2022 after touching more than 200 businesses along the way. The City of Lake Oswego later won recognition from the Oregon chapter of the American Public Works Association for the project, which the city itself has described as turning an undersized arterial road into a more walkable, more visible commercial strip.
That timeline lines up with what actually happened to the storefronts. The Giant Drive-In closed in 2023, a year after construction wrapped, and sat empty for two years while Hurtado worked through the permitting to turn it into OG Birrieria. Ivy's Pho & Grill's closure freed up the space the Solteros are now filling. None of these openings needed the road project to happen. A wider sidewalk and a rebuilt streetscape changed the corridor, while the Solteros are returning two blocks from their former location after a decade in the neighborhood.
What Changes for Anyone Who Already Lives Here
If you live in Lake Grove or anywhere else in Lake Oswego, the practical version of this story is simple: Jefe and OG Birrieria are open within easy walking distance of each other, while Mezcal was reported as set to open by the end of August, though its status as of publication isn't established here. Jefe still has the deepest tequila list on the block. OG Birrieria is the one to try if birria and an all-day schedule fit how you actually eat, since it's open from breakfast hour through dinner every day. The reported plan for Mezcal was less like a brand-new arrival than a return to a relationship the neighborhood already had, at a different address.
There's also a smaller, quieter fact buried in this: Summit Orthopedics expanding into the old Corona space is a reminder that Boones Ferry Road's growth isn't only restaurants replacing restaurants. Medical and service businesses are also part of the corridor's mix, alongside the Solteros' return two blocks from their former location.
None of this requires a special trip. It requires driving a road you probably already drive, and knowing that what looks like three separate restaurant stories is actually one family's second chapter on the corridor, one long-vacant lot finally filled, and one long-running restaurant that never needed to change addresses at all.
If you're weighing a move within Lake Grove or elsewhere in Lake Oswego and want a read on how a specific block or corridor is actually changing, not just what a listing photo shows, Henry Liu can walk you through it block by block. Let's Connect.
