Have you heard? Marblehead has a new secret.
“We’re hoping to keep it shrouded in mystery for a little while longer,” said Victoria Horvath, who is co-owner of a new speakeasy in town called The Hidden Door. Exactly where the door is and what’s behind it has much of Marblehead talking.
Horvath and her husband, Todd, have managed several restaurants on the North Shore, but this is their first together. When they received a liquor license in 2019, they knew they wanted to capitalize on a ’20s theme once they bought a place and opened.
“We’re drawing some inspiration from that era,” Todd said.
To reach The Hidden Door, one might look for a fence near The Barrelman, which Todd Horvath used to manage.
“There’s a surprise entrance, and you might wonder, ‘Am I supposed to be going here?’” Victoria laughed. “Once you find your way inside, the journey continues. You’re walking through a narrow hallway, and you don’t really see it until you turn a corner.”
Victoria did most of the interior design for the bar.
“There are vaulted ceilings, exposed beams and bricks, lots of wood, oriental rugs. There’s dim lighting. Everything has an orange glow. I wanted to make sure that it felt old and new at the same time. There are stars in certain places. Etched glass. Velvet curtains. The bar is mahogany.
“It’s a deep purple color, very moody and sexy,” she added.
So far, visitors are having the exact reaction Victoria was hoping for.
“They’re like, ‘Oh my God,’” she said. “There might be some foul language because they’re so excited.”
Todd added, “It sort of feels like a Wes Anderson movie. As we hired our staff, we were cultivating personalities. We wanted the room to be another one of those personalities.”
As for the drinks, Todd says expect to be impressed.
“We’re making everything from scratch, we’re making all our own syrups,” he said. “Every cocktail on our cocktail list has something in it that we make… fresh lemon and lime juice… we’re not using frozen. We make negroni sorbet. Every week, I keep doubling what we make.”
In addition to beer, wine and cocktails, The Hidden Door offers “small bites and desserts,” but the Horvaths didn’t want to divulge any more menu details.
Todd and Victoria planned a soft, almost-secret opening, but they’ve been shocked to see how many people have tracked down The Hidden Door so far.
“There’s a line every night,” Victoria said. “I feel terrible. It’s getting cold outside! We so appreciate the community. It has been so wonderful, and we feel so grateful.”
Todd added, “People are telling us that when they walk in they feel like they’ve been transported to a different place. At a time when we don’t communicate with each other face to face, and there’s a huge anxiety problem with the country right now, to have a place where people come together and not stare at a television can be very comfortable. That was one of our goals.”
He continued, “We want people to know, we tried to build this cool, welcoming place for everybody with some craft cocktails and drinks that are prepared with purpose and delivered with care.”
