After three years running their eatery on Forest Avenue in Riverside, Joyce and Mario Mongello finally celebrated their first anniversary.
Jem Café, 31 Forest Ave., made it a party on Saturday, a family party that also included many of its loyal regulars. Mario Mongello’s brother, Michael served up a New Orleans crab boil from the kitchen, while Mario himself entertained diners as part of an acoustic trio.
The day marked one year for the Mongellos’ revamped restaurant, Jem Café, which transitioned from the Blue Parrot in August 2007. Two years earlier, the couple had saved the Blue Parrot from folding when they bought it from its previous owners.
For a time, the Mongellos maintained the Blue Parrot’s look and menu, but decided in 2007 to forge their own path. They ditched the morning hours and concentrated on lunch, which maintained the Blue Parrot specialties, and dinner, which focuses on comfort foods.
“We definitely learned a lot transitioning to dinners,” said Joyce Mongello. “Lunch already had a following, and we still had to let people know they were still at home [with the new concept].”
Despite celebrating its inaugural anniversary, the Jem/Blue Parrot is an old timer in downtown Riverside, having continuously (except for a 2007 remodeling) been a restaurant in that location for 13 years.
Even in her short time at the helm, Mongello has seen businesses come and go-Arcade Antiques, J.P. Antiques, Parallel 42 Wine Café, Chaos Video and Shelbrack’s Custom Jewelry have all left the scene in and around East Avenue since 2006. Mongello is suddenly the old timer.
But there’s reason for optimism, said Mongello. A Principle Dance Studio has brought family foot traffic to the street and to her business, and Calvetti’s martini bar has replaced the wine café.
Across Longcommon Road there are some signs of life despite the loss of more businesses-Provo’s bakery, Fresh Express Café, a laundromat, Travel With Tower and Heavenly Hot Dogs-in the past year and the continuing saga of the virtually empty Arcade Building across the tracks on Riverside Road.
While the majority of Mongello’s customers are local, she is seeing business from people who live in LaGrange and Oak Park, and a village art fair on East Burlington Street in May did boost business, she said. An outdoor patio at the restaurant has also served to give Jem Café more visibility.
“Slowly we’re seeing people coming from out of town,” Mongello said.
Like other businesspeople in Riverside, however, Mongello is waiting for the village’s downtown to gain traction and attract investment.
“When I first came here … you could definitely see the end of an era,” said Village Manager Kathleen Rush, who was hired in 1997.
At that time, Henninger’s drug store was slowly going out of business and a Hallmark store was closing. Still, places like Chew Chew Café were just beginning to pop up, a glimpse into what looks to be the future for downtown-quality food-based businesses that attract both local and out-of-town crowds.
The Chew Chew Café closed in 2007, but a new restaurant from its owner Scott Zimmer is under construction at 31-33 E. Burlington St., a business that some see as a draw for not only customers, but other businesses.
“There are people that visit me who are interested in development,” Rush said. “But a lot of it is taking the pulse. They see the need for investment, but they want somebody else to go first. That’s why we’re hoping with Scott’s restaurant that it will be enough to get people confident to reinvest.”
Asked if he felt any pressure as the businessman people are looking to kickstart business downtown, Zimmer acknowledged the compliment, but said he was focused on getting his own restaurant completed.
“At this time, however, my only focus is to get through the design and construction phases of this project,” Zimmer stated.
“Once we open, time will tell if my investment has any impact on our business neighbors. I can only control the operation of my business.”
Filling perhaps the most visible corner on Burlington-in the new Village Center development-also couldn’t hurt. Sales of the residential units in the building have been slowly appearing in Cook County Recorder of Deeds’ records, but owners have yet to ink a deal on the largest ground-floor commercial space, which has always been viewed as a prime restaurant location.
Back in May, Village Center developer Harry Liesenfelt said he was close to a deal with a restaurant. As of last week, the deal was still being negotiated, with Liesenfelt hoping for a resolution “within 30 days.”
Liesenfelt said he was negotiating with an independent restaurateur with ties to the local area. He described the concept as an upscale “restaurant/bistro” that served Italian and American fare.
Meanwhile, just across the street, a more modest restaurant operation is still unfolding. Signs in the window at 7 E. Burlington St. announce the impending arrival of Buddy’s Hot Dogs in the space formerly occupied by Heavenly Hot Dogs.
Pete Calvetti, the owner of the martini bar on East Avenue, sold the business to Joe DeMauro, a former Cicero cop who now works as a parole officer for the Illinois Department of Corrections.
DeMauro is not yet certain when the hot dog stand will reopen, saying he wants to refurbish the interior. Rush indicated no building permits have been taken out for the work yet.
“I want to focus on making a good atmosphere,” DeMauro said.
For his part, Calvetti is slowly adding a nightlife dimension to the martini bar, which is also celebrating its first anniversary this month. He’s has two nights where a DJ spins hits from the ’70s and ’80s and two comedy nights featuring a trio of comedians.
He called his first year challenging-from the hard-to-spot location to a slow period during winter that made it tough for him to make ends meets at both the hot dog stand and the bar. Selling the hot dog stand recently has helped lift that burden.
“I need to concentrate 110 percent on this place,” Calvetti said.
For Patty Miglore, manager of Aunt Diana’s Fudge at 29 E. Burlington St., who has seen so many businesses come and go downtown over the 35 years, she’s not sure whether we’re seeing the dawn of a new era or just another turn of the wheel.
“You need people to come to town,” said Miglore, who said 75 percent of her business comes from Riverside residents and who can remember when Jewel, Baskin-Robbins, Hallmark, a dress store and an appliance store called downtown Riverside home.
“It used to be you couldn’t find a place to park here on Saturday morning.”
Rush also hedged on the future, saying, “It’s not at the lowest point, but it is at a stasis. People are waiting for … someone to show confidence in not only Riverside’s downtown, but in the economy itself.”
