Downtown restaurant was turned into El Mandilon, a Mexican restaurant, as part of a proposed Food Network series

The transformation of the Starlite Room restaurant into a new Mexican restaurant during filming for a potential series for the Food Network led to declining sales and the closing of the eatery.

Owner Tyler Yurckonis had built a following for the Starlite Room, particularly with the arts community for his New York club-style restaurant. He catered to pre-show diners and late night, post-show drinks and snacks. Live music was regularly featured, as were stage shows presented in the restaurant and in an upstairs bar area.

Camera crews were on site for several weeks to capture the final days of the Starlite and how construction crews turned it into El Mandilon, described as a Craft Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar. But once it opened, there was a drastic drop in business, Yurckonis said.

“I just couldn’t keep it open. There was just not enough business,” Yurckonis said of the decision to close last week, about six weeks after a grand opening.

The restaurant at 1001 Cocoanut Ave. was originally built as a home to a new version of the historic Broadway bar. Yurckonis turned it into the Starlite Room four years ago.

He said he was contacted last fall by a production company to apply to be featured in the pilot for a new Food Network show that would be called “Restaurant Flip.” Production crews filmed the transformation from Starlite into El Mandilon. The new menu included tacos, carne asada, fajitas, enchiladas, guacamole, soups and salads, and specialty drinks.

Yurckonis said he had been promised that sales would double, but the opening night generated only $4,000.

Yurckonis said he is now weighing his options on how to proceed after the renovation work drained his finances. A group of friends and patrons, many of them from the theater community who frequented the Starlite and performed in shows there, have planned a meeting to see how they can help return the restaurant back to the Starlite.

“I’m hoping we can find some way to bring the Starlite back the way it was, or as close as possible,” said Kelly Wynn Woodland, a prominent community theater director who leads the Random Acts performance troupe.

“I think a lot of people were sad, very sad. Tyler seemed excited about everything and then it turned out horribly wrong,” she said.

Random Acts was asked to remove a piano, props and costumes it had stored at the restaurant for its shows, including Big Red Nose Burlesque and the Plump Sisters.

The performance aspect of the gathering is secondary to getting the restaurant restored to its former operations, Woodland said.

“It was just a special space. There’s nothing else like it here. It was the kind of place where you know you would see a bunch of theater people when you went. It was open late and you could get food late. They knew when the Asolo was getting out or when the Van Wezel shows were getting out."