UPDATED 3:30 P.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

YORKVILLE – Alexander Lopez of Yorkville said he previously owned a Mexican restaurant in Elburn with his father Felipe for nearly a decade. He said his late wife, Zanaida, who was a nurse at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva and a devoted mother, also would help out at the restaurant when she could.

“Everything that she did for us was always great, was always right," Lopez, 32, said. "It just always felt amazing.”

But in September 2018, Lopez said, he sold the restaurant after Zanaida died of pneumonia at the age of 29. He said it was too much to take on to raise three kids – 14-year-old Joel, 10-year-old Giada and 9-year-old Anelli – and attend to their various activities, on top of working his 9-to-5 job in downtown Chicago and owning the restaurant in Elburn.

“It hit us ridiculously," Lopez said. "It was hard to keep things intact.”

Lopez said life has calmed down a little since everything that happened about a year and a half ago, with nearby family lending a hand to take care of his children. Now, partially as a tribute to one area mother, a new Mexican restaurant to be run by the Lopez family will take the place of a former Subway restaurant on the south side of Yorkville.

Lynn Dubajic, the city's economic development consultant, said in a report ahead of the city's Tuesday, March 3 economic development committee meeting that she has been working with multiple businesses that are looking at the Fountain Village retail strip for leased space. She said that included Lopez, who now is leasing the former Subway location near Routes 47 and 71.

"The restaurant will serve authentic Mexican food, use the existing drive-up, and serve liquor," Dubajic wrote.

Lopez said the restaurant will feature affordable dishes from all across Mexico, but with a more modern spin. He said he also thinks the drive-thru window will be a nice touch, since people don't want to get out of their cars if they don't have to nowadays, and he has plans to bring in artists to create works in memory of Zanaida Lopez and to name some menu items after her.

Lopez said he's also expecting the restaurant to bring an additional 15 to 20 jobs to the area, which is important to him as someone who lives in the community.

“I think bringing something like that to the Yorkville area should be good,” Lopez said.

Dubajic said in the report the space is undergoing renovations currently. Lopez said he is hoping for an early spring opening date, ideally the first week of April.

Dubajic had said in the report Lopez and his family will be opening the Mexican restaurant under the name A Toda Madre, which translates to "everything is great." Lopez later said the business name will have to be changed due to the name already being trademarked, which was unknown to him until recently.

• Editor's Note: This story has been updated from its original Friday, March 6 version to further clarify the status of the business's name.