Sunday, January 29, 2023
Subscriber Login
My Profile
SpotlightNews
  • Home
  • News
    • Election 2022
    • Business
      • Spotlight On Business
      • Spotlight on Finance
    • Crime and Police
    • Discover-Towns
      • Discover Coeymans Selkirk and Feura Bush
      • Discover Delmar
      • Discover Glenmont
      • Discover Guilderland
      • Discover Latham and Boght
      • Discover Loudonville
      • Discover Menands
      • Discover Slingerlands
      • Discover Village of Colonie
      • Discover Voorheesville and New Scotland
    • Fire Departments
    • Government
    • Milestones
    • Schools
    • Sports
    • Obituaries
  • The Spot 518
    • Galleries
    • Art
    • Food and Recipes
    • Health & Fitness
    • Music
    • Theatre
  • Hot Spots Calendar
    • Calendar Listings
    • Submit Your Event
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
    • Our Opinion
    • Point of View
    • Your Opinion
  • Family Now
    • Parenting News
    • Senior News
  • Towns
    • Albany County
    • Bethlehem
    • Colonie
    • Guilderland
    • New Scotland
  • Classifieds
    • Employment – Hire Power
    • Services In the Spotlight
    • Classified Listings
    • Advertiser Login
  • Subscribe
    • Subscriber login
    • Give the gift of news
    • Join us – subscribe today
    • Newsletter sign up
    • Renew Subscription
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Election 2022
    • Business
      • Spotlight On Business
      • Spotlight on Finance
    • Crime and Police
    • Discover-Towns
      • Discover Coeymans Selkirk and Feura Bush
      • Discover Delmar
      • Discover Glenmont
      • Discover Guilderland
      • Discover Latham and Boght
      • Discover Loudonville
      • Discover Menands
      • Discover Slingerlands
      • Discover Village of Colonie
      • Discover Voorheesville and New Scotland
    • Fire Departments
    • Government
    • Milestones
    • Schools
    • Sports
    • Obituaries
  • The Spot 518
    • Galleries
    • Art
    • Food and Recipes
    • Health & Fitness
    • Music
    • Theatre
  • Hot Spots Calendar
    • Calendar Listings
    • Submit Your Event
  • Opinion
    • Blogs
    • Our Opinion
    • Point of View
    • Your Opinion
  • Family Now
    • Parenting News
    • Senior News
  • Towns
    • Albany County
    • Bethlehem
    • Colonie
    • Guilderland
    • New Scotland
  • Classifieds
    • Employment – Hire Power
    • Services In the Spotlight
    • Classified Listings
    • Advertiser Login
  • Subscribe
    • Subscriber login
    • Give the gift of news
    • Join us – subscribe today
    • Newsletter sign up
    • Renew Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Spotlight News
No Result
View All Result
Home The Spot Food and Drink

Food: Hattie’s to fill a void in Downtown

Michael Hallisey by Michael Hallisey
October 23, 2021
in Food and Drink, The Spot
Reading Time: 2 mins read

ALBANY — You take a story like Lombardo’s from a few years ago and ask yourself, what will it take to fill the space of such an iconic Capital City landmark? Well, now you’ve got your answer.

Last week, someone hung up a “Future Home of Hattie’s Restaurant” in the old eatery’s window on Madison Avenue. The simple and clean sign needed little more description to single the charge of yet another iconic restaurant — albeit from Saratoga Springs — to come fill the void left after its doors closed in 2018.

Hattie’s Restaurant is a Spa City landmark for residents and tourists alike. The legend says that before it opened for business on Federal Street in 1938, Hattie Gray was peddling her mouth-watering fried chicken to patrons at the Saratoga Race Track. Once she gathered enough money to open her own place, she introduced upstate New York to fine Southern and Louisiana cuisine that has stayed for nearly a century.

Since those first days of offering chicken and gumbo to Saratoga’s nightlife, the restaurant moved to its present-day Phila Street location, and spun off another room roughly eight miles south in Wilton. Both will remain open as the restaurant opens its third location in what was once Albany’s Little Italy.

The 9,500-square-foot location was sold in April, more than two years after Lombardo’s closed its doors forever. The giant electric sign with the Lombardo named scribed vertically down an arrow still hangs above the street pointing would-be customers to its ballroom.

The Italian American joint had carried the family name of the man who first owned and operated the place. Charles N. Lombardo Sr. founded the restaurant in 1919, later expanding in 1933 to the footprint that remains. His son, Charlie, Jr. was a boyhood friend of Pulitzer Prize winning author William Kennedy, and inherited the business that would pass down through the family until 1991 when ​​Paul and Rose-Marie Mancino purchased it.

In its time, Lombardo’s was a place that lured everyone, from locals to state legislators, with a menu that promised generous portions of pasta, seafood, salads and more.

Paul Mancino announced his intent to close the restaurant on New Year’s Eve 2018. Rose-Marie had died the year before. For two years, it remained vacant, except for various signs to leave hints of its recent past. In March, Mancino’s realtor announced a buyer with a particular interest in the kitchen and a rare parking lot to support business.

No date has been announced as to when Hattie’s will open its Madison Avenue location. The signage announcing the venture states that all profits will go towards local charities. People expressed excitement over the news, with some more concerned that it signaled the end of the Saratoga Springs location.

“Both locations will remain open,” someone from the restaurant stated on its Facebook page.

Hattie’s is often listed among the area’s best places for fried chicken. Before settling down in Saratoga, renowned chef Jasper Alexander previously worked at Seattle’s Restaurant Zoe, Ponti Seafood Grill and Axis Restaurants, and New York City’s Aureole, Gotham Bar and Grill and Gramercy Tavern.

Tags: albanyfood
ShareTweetShareShare
Previous Post

The Egg to host ‘Kingfish’ Nov. 4

Next Post

Letter to the Editor: DeCancio a good man

Leave Comment

Stay Connected with Us

Recent News

Spotlight News lists calls from Delmar, Elsmere, North Bethlehem, Slingerlands and Selkirk fire companies. These department are comprised of local volunteers. Please consider serving your neighbors as a volunteer firefighter. This data is compiled from the Town of Bethlehem Communications Center.

Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Log Jan. 14th – Jan. 19th

January 28, 2023

Colonie Area Weekly Police Blotter January 25th – January 31st

January 28, 2023

Food: Gluten-free everything Bagels

January 27, 2023

Getting a handle on anxiety attacks

January 27, 2023

Hot Stories This Week

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

A ‘wicked good time’ coming to Xgates

September 2, 2022

Colonie Area Weekly Police Blotter January 25th – January 31st

January 28, 2023

North Colonie Welcomes Its New Assistant Superintendent Naté Turner-Hassell

January 25, 2023
Second Assistant Chief Patrick Boccio demonstrates how tight of a squeeze it is to get trucks in and out of Stanford Heights Fire Department while Chairman of the Board of Commissioner Kevin Hulett watches.  
Jim Franco/Spotlight News

Multiple major fires and a power outage in Colonie over 24 hours

January 22, 2023
Spotlight News lists calls from Delmar, Elsmere, North Bethlehem, Slingerlands and Selkirk fire companies. These department are comprised of local volunteers. Please consider serving your neighbors as a volunteer firefighter. This data is compiled from the Town of Bethlehem Communications Center.

Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Log Jan. 14th – Jan. 19th

January 28, 2023

Colonie Area Weekly Police Blotter January 25th – January 31st

January 28, 2023

Food: Gluten-free everything Bagels

January 27, 2023

Getting a handle on anxiety attacks

January 27, 2023
Spotlight News

Spotlight News, The Spot 518 and Capital District Family Now are divisions of Community Media Group, LLC. Our local offices are located at 341 Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY 12054. You can contact us at 518.439.4949.

Browse

Follow Us

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact the Editor
  • Employment
  • Our Team
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2022 Community Media Group, LLC - 341 Delaware Ave. Delmar, NY 12054. 518.439.4949

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Election 2022
  • News
    • Crime and Police
    • Fire Departments
    • Milestones
    • Real Estate and Housing
    • Schools
    • Sports
    • Spotlight On Business
    • Spotlight on Finance
  • The Spot 518
    • Galleries
    • Art
    • Theatre
    • Music
    • Food and Drink
    • Health & Fitness
  • Hot Spots Calendar
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Opinion
  • Classifieds
    • Advertiser Login
    • Service Directory
    • Hire Power – Employer Spotlight
  • Capital District Family Now
    • Parenting News
    • Senior News
  • Towns
    • Albany County
    • Bethlehem
    • Colonie
    • Guilderland
  • Log In
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Community Media Group, LLC - 341 Delaware Ave. Delmar, NY 12054. 518.439.4949