TV Contest Stimulates Hidden Cafe Makeover

Mary Autera, owner of The Hidden Cafe, was perusing craigslist last fall when she came across a casting questionnaire for restaurant operators. Able to answer ‘yes’ to each of the questions, she responded quickly, knowing that being cast on a restaurant reality show could lead to the revamp of The Hidden Cafe she so desperately wanted. Autera soon received a phone call from the producers, who were interested in using her for a new show, but the project didn’t work out. Though disappointed, Autera still craved a big change for her restaurant, which opened in 2002 at 1515 Palisades Dr. in the Highlands. ‘I think we let the neighborhood down a bit. I knew we needed to do something,’ said Autera, who had been absent from the cafe for nearly a year because of a back injury. ‘[The show] didn’t work out, so I gave up, then months passed by and I thought, ‘We’ve got to do something.” Soon, Autera had torn down the ceiling, changed the electrical wiring and put in a new air conditioning system. In the midst of the beginning of an intense renovation, Autera’s lucky break strolled through the door. ‘All of a sudden these people show up, tell us to stop and ask if we would be interested in a pilot for a major network,’ Autera said. ‘It was just serendipitous!’ For the show, Autera and her staff were given 48 hours to completely make over the entire restaurant’d’cor, menus, service and presentation. Meanwhile, at another restaurant somewhere in the Los Angeles area, another team had two days to completely renovate its establishment. All 48 hours of the process were filmed for the show, and Autera and members of her team were occasionally pulled aside for on-camera interviews and comments. ‘Having cameras on makes you grow, because you’re in your altered self the entire time,’ Autera said. ‘It’s like being super-conscious of everything you say, do and feel.’ After the eateries were made over, a restaurant critic covertly patronized both restaurants before selecting a winner. Autera and her team found out who won the competition on July 2, but everyone else will have to watch the show this fall to find out who wins. (The show’s title and air dates have yet to be made public.) ‘What Mary and her team of Chef Lorenzo Paz, Danica Hood, Quinne Anderson, Sarah Williams and the crew have achieved in just two days with their caf’ has been nothing short of remarkable,’ said the show’s executive producer, Julian Cress. ‘They should be really proud of themselves.’ One major focus of the cafe’s makeover was the d’cor. The caf’, formerly decorated in a sort of country-kitchen fashion, has taken a more elegant turn, guided by an interior designer, provided by the production, as well as The Hidden Cafe’s own Danica Hood, who has a background in interior design and architecture. ‘We needed to get an identity. We didn’t have one,’ Autera said. ‘We were all over the place.’ With freshly painted golden yellow walls, new light fixtures, simplified wall art and fresh white tablecloths, the restaurant looks brand new. The menu at The Hidden Cafe also underwent a drastic change. With the help of Kat Kora, famous for her role on ‘Iron Chef,’ Autera and her team reduced the number of items on the menu from 76 to 14. After Kora tasted the menu items, her only advice for improvement was to reduce the amount of sauce and add some salt. ‘It’s our good fortune that our food has maintained its reputation of great quality. It’s fantastic,’ Autera said. So far, the staff’s hard work has paid off. On their first night open after the renovation, they had a packed house. Many of their favorite guests, as well as many new customers, filled every seat. ‘Everybody was happy. Not a single person wanted something they couldn’t have,’ Autera said. ‘Everything we had on [the menu] was the right stuff.’