A LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME ”

How the health and wellness-focused Parakeet Cafe has helped its owners and the local community grow

on my cell phone,” she mentioned. “And it had a list of the items that I would love to serve, and we just experimented like that.” Among other methods, she gets inspiration from recipes she cooks at home, dishes from other restaurants, and meals discovered while traveling.

To Mrs. Roizen-Goldwasser, bringing people together through Parakeet’s food is very important. “We have customers that I’ve seen since day one, that come every day,” she said, “We built a restaurant for the community.”

Located along Silverado Street in La Jolla, California, the parrot-print wall and the familiar “A little birdie told me” quote painted on the windowpane are immediately recognizable as Parakeet Cafe. In the midst of the Village, it boasts salmon burgers with labneh, smoothies of every fruit imaginable, and even sky-blue lattes.

The journey to build Parakeet started years back with a spark of an idea: Mrs. Carol Roizen-Goldwasser and her husband Mr. Jonathan Goldwasser partnered with Juice Crafters — a health and wellness juice bar in LA — and opened several San Diego locations. Then, in 2017, they opened the first official Parakeet in the La Jolla Village. Currently, they have nine Parakeet locations in San Diego and plans for a Newport location as well.

Eating healthy, well-sourced food has always been important for the Goldwassers, especially after their youngest daughter, Michelle, was born with a rare disease. Mrs. Roizen-Goldwasser soon realized she could impact Michelle’s health positively through healthy meals, making her “super apprehensive with everything around food.”

Even after Michelle made a full recovery, Mrs. Roizen-Goldwasser craved more with her newfound knowledge. “I wanted a healthy lifestyle for myself. But also being able to share that with others was something that I knew I needed.”

Using good ingredients is central to Parakeet’s mission. To obtain the best quality possible, they source their food from J.R. Organics, a certified, 100 percent organic family-owned farm in Escondido. Even though it may be expensive, “We will always honor that super high quality,” Mrs. Roizen-Goldwasser explained.

To curate recipes that match this mindset, Mrs. Roizen-Goldwasser pulls from many different sources. “I had a note

This sense of community is very obvious to anyone who goes to Parakeet, especially to Bishop’s students. A former Parakeet worker Khoudia Samb (‘22) said, “My favorite thing about the job was how friendly all of the coworkers were and getting to work with some of my friends.”

In addition to working there, many students are also frequent customers. Sarah Kaplan (‘23), spoke of Parakeet’s food quality. “I really enjoy Parakeet’s matcha,” she said. It is my favorite thing to get there, and I find it is the best quality matcha tea in La Jolla.”

Of course, running and managing a restaurant is never easy, no matter how well-received the food is. For Mrs. Roizen-Goldwasser, who characterizes herself as a perfectionist, it has been even harder. And yet, Mrs. Roizen-Goldwasser said, “It has given me flexibility in all aspects of my life, and it has been a great learning experience. I think that’s why I opened the restaurant. I needed to learn the hard way that I don’t control anything.”

And Parakeet has been fantastic. For the Goldwassers, for San Diego, and for Bishop’s students, it is truly an irreplaceable part of the community.