SMITHFIELD - Playing off the movie theater across the street, the Cinema Café will open soon on South Third Street in the former Big Easy/Café Monet space.

The restaurant and lounge will serve American cuisine for lunch, dinner and late night seven days a week. It will open as soon as its owners can complete renovations of the space.

"It's going to be a very nice place," said William Price, who will run the restaurant with Steve Williamson. Price said the menu will likely include steaks, pork chops, chicken, salads, sandwiches and a kids' menu. It will offer daily specials such as an oyster bar or fish.

"We want it to be the newest in fine dining," Price said.

After 9 p.m., the lounge will stay open and feature finger foods, sandwiches and drinks. The restaurant will serve brunch on Sundays to attract the after-church crowd.

Workers have been busy taking down the New Orleans-themed decor of the Big Easy. Williamson said they plan to redecorate with old film reels and movie posters, but will likely leave the New Orleans murals on the walls of the upstairs banquet room.

The banquet room will be available for meetings and private parties, Price said. Outside dining will also be available. The outside of the building will be redone over the next several weeks.

Price and Williamson hope the theme will draw in folks on the way to see a movie at the Howell, and they hope to attract tourists in town to see the Ava Gardner Museum.

The restaurant will help to fill the dining void left by the closings of Marla's and Riverside Café. Chris Johnson, head of the Downtown Smithfield Development Corp., said he's pleased to hear about the new restaurant and that he's talking to potential buyers of the two closed restaurants.

"We're excited about their making an investment in downtown," Johnson said.

Price said he's wanted to open a restaurant for awhile. "We've been looking at it for a long time," he said.

Cinema Café will be hiring wait staff and cooks in the coming weeks.

The space has been home to several restaurants over the past decade. Café Monet had the longest tenure, from 1996 to 2004. An Italian restaurant briefly followed. In 2007, it was The Big Easy for several months before giving way to Mozelle's Soul Food.