Hidden Cafe Closes in the Highlands

The Hidden Cafe, the only restaurant located in the upper Highlands, closed its doors to the general public on December 31, after a difficult financial year. ‘It’s all a bit of a shock,’ said owner Mary Autera in an emotional interview at the cafe last week. ‘I loved being here. It’s the nicest people and the nicest community. Everyone is so genuine.’ The restaurant, located at 1515 Palisades Dr., opened in April 2002 and was successful from the beginning. Customers liked the menu and the hearty portions. In addition, Autera hosted various artistic endeavors like jazz night and displayed the work of local artists. She also started a catering business. By 2005 the restaurant was well established, with a large Highlands clientele and a catering business that was popular all over the Westside. ‘We were booming,’ said Autera, who employed 18 people at one point. ‘I had four or five [catering] parties going out at once.’ In November 2005, Autera carried a large box up three flights of stairs at a party she was working. ‘I blew out four discs,’ she said, though she managed to finish the job. At the next one, however, she collapsed and had to go to the hospital. She not only had a back injury, but also a constricted bowel and bladder, conditions that placed her in the hospital and in recovery for most of 2006. ‘I was in bed for nine months,’ she said. Autera was not married and didn’t have a business partner at the restaurant. ‘It was arrogant on my part to think it could run itself,’ she admitted. She tried to keep up the bookwork, and when she finally went back to work, she concentrated on the baking. But in the meantime, restaurant service had gone downhill and Autera was losing customers. Later she found out that her employees were closing the restaurant whenever they felt like it and often didn’t open on time. When Autera returned full-time to the restaurant in mid-2007, her catering business was gone (representing 25 percent of her revenue) and she knew that the restaurant was in trouble. In an effort to woo customers back, she allowed The Hidden Cafe to be part of a reality-show pilot in July that pitted two restaurants against each other. In two days’ time, experts had changed the d’cor and downsized the menu from 76 entrees to 14. Autera had to sign a contract that she would make no changes for six months. Unfortunately, the pilot never aired, and Autera regrets ever participating in the venture. ‘Since I was out of touch, I didn’t trust my own instincts,’ she said. The large portions and the comfort foods associated with the cafe had been taken away by the ‘experts.’ Instead of bringing customers back, which was her hope with the new menu, business grew worse. In December, when the reality-show contract expired, Autera brought her old menu back, but by then it was too late. ‘We were sunk. We had taken on too much water and we were buried in bills. It was a matter of just six months. You can buckle in that amount of time. I was really banking on the renovation and the show, and the whole thing flopped.’ In the process, Autera lost her Santa Monica home and her 401(k). Her fianc’e, Mark Stimson, is now fighting liver disease. But she tries to stay upbeat. ‘I have strong faith. I know it will come out all right,’ she said. ‘ It’s so sad. I’m preventing myself from saying it’s unfair.’ Now that The Hidden Cafe is closed, Autera plans to work as a private chef for families and senior citizens. She will prepare meals three or four times a week (‘I’ll make it interesting’) and either deliver the food or come to a customer’s house to cook. Clients can choose from a list of foods (noting allergies, likes and dislikes) and she will work within their budget. ‘It will be like getting restaurant food the way you like it,’ said Autera, who also plans to coach cooking and teach cooking classes. She lives in Santa Monica. Tears came as Autera remembered the Valentine’s Days and the Mother’s Days when the restaurant was packed, and how residents would come down to borrow milk or sugar. ‘The people here are the reason I want to do this business,’ she said. ‘I want to stay in the community. It isn’t the competition that is the challenge. It’s serving the community and being there for them. It’s the challenge of meeting the needs of the community and feeling the pulse of what that is.’ To reach Autera for a private party or as a private chef, call (310) 319-9504.