BAKER CITY — No. 2425 Oak St., colloquially known as Fong’s for decades running, is getting a new name for the new year, and a significant redesign.

Restaurateur couple Autumn and Baudilio “Bo” Barajas, who’ve recently leased the space from owner Philip Wong, and are rebuilding it into a new Mexican restaurant they’re going to call Zacatecas.

“Zacatecas is the state in Mexico my husband is from,” Autumn Barajas said. “We had a Mexican restaurant in John Day until 2012 that was named after the town he was from. This time we named it after his state.”

The site has been a string of Chinese restaurants for most of its existence, originally Fong’s Tea House and also most recently its lounge operated as Fong’s explicitly.

Owner Philip Wong bought the building originally from Yim and Quincy Fong in 2006.

Autumn says that Bo has done a great deal of labor on the project as she’s been caring for their children and preparing the licensing documents, together striving to become self-employed.

“What we’ve done here was done just between the two of us,” Autumn said, indicating the extensive paint and plaster-work involved, with many stylistic updates from the previous Chinese interior design.

She says she hasn’t faced any huge setbacks, though the site required professionals to address a gas leak and to clean the carpeting, otherwise the progress has been rapid, and they are expecting to open officially in the next few weeks into early February.

Campbell street business has continued to grow this year, with several venues opening or pending to open in the coming months.

“I like this location, I’m from here and I like Baker,” she said, having spent some 10 years in John Day previously.

Autumn says she’d only once gone into Fong’s before, and expects the outside will need some work to reflect the new themes.

“We ran a restaurant before (in John Day) too,” said Bo, whose sister also runs a venue in Mexico.

Bo says he’s hoping to bring authenticity to their menu, offering classic staples along with birria, sopes, gorditas and more. Autumn says they’re going to include some Tex-mex variety and a range of agua frescas.

“We’re trying for fast casual,” said Autumn, “maybe less sit down dining. It’s going to be more of an eat-and-go.”

She says as well they’re thinking about installing a drive-through window, and has several kids eligible to work as they get established in the community.

On the lounge side, Bo says he’ll be doing the bartending, and most of the features will remain unchanged.