Over 1,000 miles away from New Orleans, the Lost Dog Cafe brought Mardi Gras to Binghamton on Tuesday night with its 22nd annual Fat Tuesday celebration.
On an average night, it’s hard to get a table at the Lost Dog. And as evident from the hour-and-a-half wait, this night was no different.
“This is the one night of the year where the tables don’t turn,” wrote co-owner Marie McKenna in an email. “So many of our guests arrive and want to just stay and hang out all evening and listen to the band.”
As patrons walked into the festively flag-adorned restaurant, they received complementary purple, green and gold beads, as well as masks.
The Basin Street Dixieland Jazz Band added to the night’s ambiance. Although the band is only comprised of seven men, they had at least nine instruments — including a trumpet, a washboard and a saxophone — at their disposal.
The band played with an astonishing amount of enthusiasm. If you didn’t think that the washboard could be played with heart, you thought wrong. A few members took the opportunity to weave through the tables as they played, which was especially enjoyable for those patrons whose view of the performance was obstructed by a wall.
Chenango Forks resident and former jazz performer Norman Davies appreciated the live music.
“We’ve been coming here almost since they started,” he said. “It’s always very interesting and exciting to hear some Dixieland Jazz.”
While the music and the decor were enjoyable, the night’s main attraction was the food. Alongside their usual dinner menu, Lost Dog curated a special Mardi Gras menu for the evening. I had the chicken and andouille gumbo with a mango coleslaw to start, mashed sweet potatoes as my entree and finished off with a banana pudding. The gumbo had a perfect balance of spice, and the mango coleslaw had a subtle sweetness to it that made it the best I’ve ever had. The banana pudding was sweet and creamy, and the crumbled vanilla wafers at the bottom of the dish were a pleasant surprise.
The staff also prepared a Mardi Gras staple, the King Cake, which has bread-like consistency and butter, cinnamon and sugar rolled throughout it. It’s finished with royal icing and purple, green and gold sprinkles. Following New Orleans tradition, there is also a tiny, plastic baby hidden in the cake that is meant to symbolize the baby Jesus. Whoever finds the baby is said to gain luck and prosperity, and also becomes a king or queen for the day. In New Orleans, finding the baby means that you have to buy the King Cake for the following year, but as explained on the back menu, at the Lost Dog Cafe, it meant that your dinner was on the house.
Lost Dog Cafe held its first Mardi Gras celebration during its first year of operation, on February 28, 1995. Back then it was located in a “tiny, grungy garage at 60 Main St.,” that McKenna wrote has since been demolished.
“We weren’t that familiar with all of the Mardi Gras traditions,” McKenna wrote, “but we managed to cobble together a festive evening with some Jambalaya and corn bread, and some Gumbo. We of course baked our very first King Cake. We played Zydeco music, but didn’t have a live band. It was really fun. Even the local news station stopped by to cover us live when they heard about it. Since then it’s been an annual tradition.”
McKenna said that planning the event this time wasn’t very difficult, since they’ve celebrated so many times before. After over 20 years, they’ve gotten it down to a science.
She added that her hope for the night was “laissez les bons temps rouler,” or “to let the good times roll.” And at Tuesday’s event, it was clear that a good time was had by all.