Inspired by the lack of alluring dining options at U.S.C., where they were students, Alex Chang and Robert Kronfli started up an underground restaurant in their on-campus apartment in late 2009. They named the establishment Paladar, after the Cuban tradition of home-operated restaurants, and with no culinary training, Chang—a kinesthesiology major and aspiring cook—and Kronfli—a smooth-talking music major with a brother in the restaurant industry—began charging their friends and peers $15 a head. Although they at first planned to serve comforting, home-style dinners to their student customers, Paladar’s final menus were more ambitious, featuring items such as duck-leg confit, squid-ink pasta, raw oysters, and dishes that Chang, who served as head chef, had never made before. (Kronfli acted as manager.) Through word-of-mouth, the duo started filling their apartment to capacity every Thursday night, feeding approximately 60 students, including their neighbor, Gil Freston, a film student who realized that the venture was worth chronicling.

With no documentary-making experience, Freston wrangled a team of fellow student filmmakers and captured the charming dichotomy of the illicit setup—young diners enjoying sophisticated food and paired wines by candlelight, while Chang, Kronfli, and their chefs rowdily prepared their meals in the makeshift restaurant kitchen, often with a Pabst Blue Ribbon or a shot close by. After unveiling the documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival last month, Freston, who graduated from U.S.C. last year, phoned the Hollywood Blog to discuss the making of his first-ever movie, the perils of running a speakeasy dining establishment, and Paladar’s popularity on campus, where, he estimates, Chang and Kronfli served 5,200 meals while maintaining a full class schedule.

Julie Miller: How did your first film festival go?

Gil Freston: It went really well! It was nice to bring something like this back home, because I am from New York. So it was nice to bring [the movie] back to my friends and family.

How did you discover Paladar, and at what point did you decide you wanted to make the movie?

I found out about it sophomore year. [Alex and Robert] were a year above me, and their apartment was right next to mine. Bobby’s older brother was in the restaurant industry, and Alex was interested in being a chef, which had nothing to do with their majors at the school. They just decided to open a restaurant. I thought that was really cool and something that had never really been [documented] before, especially by college kids. There wasn’t a lot of coverage on underground restaurants, and they were really blowing up, especially in L.A.

I thought it could kind of be likeJiro Dreams of Sushi meetsAnimal House, about this really interesting subculture.

So you started out as neighbors, not friends.

Right. One of my roommates brought his girlfriend there and told me that these guys were running a restaurant from the house. I didn’t realize how big and how legitimate of an operation it would be. I just thought it would be like a dinner party—“Let’s make food for our friends, charge them a little money, and then eat with them.” I didn’t realize that there would be waiters, wine pairings, and a prix fixe menu.

So I found out who was doing it, Bobby. Once I went the first time, I was hooked. I think that’s how most people felt. Once you go, you want to keep going back every Thursday, because it’s unlike anything on campus. Like nothing you’ve ever seen before. So they kept building and building on that.

Did you always know that you were going to make a feature-length film?