Vibe Check: Hattie's Mardi Gras

After four years off, the beloved mid-winter soirée returned in all its green-and-gold glory.

Guests at Hattie’s Mardi Gras dancing to “Cupid Shuffle”

In 2019, when Hattie’s Restaurant owners Beth and Jasper Alexander announced that they’d be taking a break from putting on the Hattie’s Mardi Gras party that over 18 years had raised more than $1 million for local nonprofits, Saratogians, for some reason, took it personally. “They didn’t even consult anyone!” one Mardi Gras super-fan named Laura joked this past Saturday over a plate of collard greens and mac and cheese at the annual event’s big comeback—the first in four years. But Laura’s disappointment that the Hattie’s team took three well deserved years off (two of which would have likely been cancelled due to Covid anyway) came from a place of love. Between the impressive Cajun spread by chefs Jasper Alexander, Phil Fitzpatrick and Mark D. Graham, the dessert table by Bread Basket Bakery’s Angelina Tallman, and the bebopping live music by Garland Nelson and Soul Session, Mardi Gras has always been Laura’s favorite party of the year. “This is all the best things about Saratoga in one fundraiser,” she said, thrilled to be back.

The novelty of Mardi Gras’ fanfare-filled return certainly brought a local-heavy crowd this past Saturday, Mayor Ron Kim pointed out to me when I ran into him and his wife, Jen, near the bar. While Saratoga’s summer galas tend to draw a lot of tourists, he said, the late-January Mardi Gras date means it’s mainly townies who show up for the cause, which this year was the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. (Some notable townies: Alessandra Bange-Hall, who served as a member of the event’s planning committee; Seth Warden, there with his brother-in-law whose company was an event sponsor; Sonny Bonacio, who I spotted holding court with Mike Phinney, Carmine DeCrescente and others at the bar; Julie Bonacio, dressed, predictably, to the nines; Catherine Hover, sporting a fresh blowout; the Business for Good team, who made the Mardi Gras revival happen; and the fearsome foursome of Saratoga business organization leaders Darryl Leggieri, Deann DeVitt, Ellen Brodie and Todd Shimkus.) Jen, Ron continued, is quite the woman about town herself. “People are like, ‘Jen! Who are you with?’” he says about being seen with her in public. “She should be the mayor.”

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At the end of the cocktail hour, emcee Alisyn Camerota of CNN took the mic to welcome everyone back to Mardi Gras. “In addition to being the party of the century, there’s obviously a special purpose tonight to everything you’re doing,” she said. “Jasper and Beth Alexander created this Mardi Gras in honor of Miss Hattie and to carry on her legacy of charitable giving. That’s what this is all about.” With that, a jazz trio piped up, and Soul Session took it from there, pausing only later in the evening for Molly Nicol, the Regional Food Bank’s CEO, to say a few words. “Tonight we are going to raise over $100,000,” she said. “That provides 400,000 meals for our hungry neighbors. Now have some fun dancing.”

And dance we did. “Cupid Shuffle” got the people out on the dance floor and “Exes and Ohs” and “Don’t Stop Believin’” kept them there. Others gathered to chat in small groups outside the ballroom, where the music was quieter. It was there I met Anthony, who told me he thought the event was original and that people were there for the right reasons, but also that he was there looking for two wives. “I struck out on finding one,” he said. “So I might as well go for two!”

Nearby, I caught up with Margo, who I know as “Murray’s mom” (Murray being the mischievous Sheepadoodle who frequents the Saratoga Dog Park) and her friend, who explained that she’d crafted her Mardi Gras outfit from a sleeveless track dress layered with a white, furry jacket she got on Amazon. “The band is fabulous and the food is, too,” she told me. “It makes me want to go to Hattie’s in the summer.” The Spa City’s party of the year may be in the dead of winter, but leave it to us locals—we’ve still got our sights set on Saratoga summer.

—Natalie

See our party pics from Hattie’s Mardi Gras here: