The owners of the restaurant, Joyce and Mario Mongello, closed the Blue Parrot in March after operating the coffee/sandwich shop since the fall of 2005. The Mongellos purchased the business from the Dabrowski family, who operated the business for a decade at the downtown Riverside location.

According to Mario Mongello, after nearly two years of keeping the Blue Parrot alive in its original form, it was clear that a change was needed.

"Initially when we bought the Blue Parrot, we wanted to keep it that way," Mongello said. "But after two years we kept finding things that needed to be changed to make it more functional."

The solution was to make over not only the interior space of the Blue Parrot, which was known as a funky space with an eclectic mix of garage sale-esque furniture, but the concept of the restaurant itself. When the jem cafe (j.e.m.-those are Joyce Mongello's initials) opens it will be a lunch/dinner operation that the Mongellos hope will draw the Blue Parrot's traditional customer base-families seeking casual dining.

The lunch menu will be much the same as the lunch menu from the old Blue Parrot, with many of the same sandwiches and salads. The Blue Parrot's cook for the past decade, Maria Alvarado, will also be back when jem cafe opens. People will still order at the counter-although the location of the counter has been relocated--but the furniture will be all new, matched items.

Dinner will be a somewhat more formal affair. While customers will still order at the counter, servers will come by tables to follow up. The restaurant will also serve beer and wine, which is something completely new for the restaurant.

"We're still defining [the dinner hours]; we'll see where it goes," Joyce Mongello said. "We knew we wanted to give extra service at dinner."

The dinner menu is still being worked out, but Joyce Mongello said it would feature some of the lunch items in addition to six to seven entrees and appetizers that would change seasonally. Dinners will also be available for take out.

The jem cafe has also received a permit from the Village of Riverside to allow outdoor dining which will include seating for some 24 people. Construction of the outdoor dining area should be completed this month and will be used immediately, Joyce Mongello said.

By next spring, Joyce Mongello said an awning covering the entire outdoor dining area would be installed, sheltering all diners from the rain and allowing the space to be used in spring and fall months, when temperatures allow.

When the restaurant opens, jem cafe will fill a niche in Riverside that has suddenly disappeared with the loss of Chew Chew Cafe and the Parallel 42 Wine Cafe in the past few months. The business will be open until 9 p.m. on weekdays and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. It will be closed on Sundays.

With downtown Riverside in flux, the Mongellos feel that the restaurant not only serves a need that's no longer being addressed but will benefit when business rebounds downtown.

"I feel like we're on the ground floor again," Mario Mongello said "I'm sure people are ready for something like this."

"Having more restaurant businesses in town are only going to help us," Joyce Mongello said. "We're looking forward to a resurgence of businesses coming in. [Riverside residents] want their downtown back."