The buzz in the 175-person dining room at Café Prima Pasta is so steady you can’t hear the music coming from the secret back room. But walk past the four low-ceiling dining rooms bathed in a red-orange glow. Past the black-and-white photos adorning every wall and ceiling of celebrities that have dined here over the restaurant’s 27 years in North Beach.

Dip under the photo of Joe Pesci, weave through four separate doors, and from behind a solid wood door with acoustic backing, “Killing Me Softly,” is clinking from an upright black Yamaha. Prima Pasta owner Gerardo Cea, who built this room from an overflow office, is listening to the man who wrote the Grammy-winning song play for an audience of six.