Long Island Mardi Gras-style restaurants
Candy Conner from East Northport and Rudy Lanzillotta from Massapequa laugh together during the Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras party at Big Daddy's restaurant in Massapequa. (Feb. 21, 2012) Credit: Barbara Alper
They're always having a good time down on the bayou for Mardi Gras, the Big Easy's favorite holiday, which begins Tuesday. If you can't be in New Orleans, there are several places on Long Island where you can celebrate in true Louisiana style.
At Bayou Restaurant in Bellmore, for instance, the occasion, also known as Fat Tuesday, is a time for eating spicy food, listening to Southern music and wearing feathered masks and Mardi Gras beads.
"It's loud and crazy, like stepping into a little bar-
restaurant on Bourbon Street," the New Orleans thoroughfare famed for its Mardi Gras celebrations, says Bayou owner Lisa Livermore.
For people of Christian faiths, Mardi Gras is a last chance to indulge in life's pleasures before Ash Wednesday, the holy day that ushers in a 40-day period of penance, prayer and fasting known as Lent, says Mara Levy of Mara's Homemade in Syosset. At Mara's, you can order a Mardi Gras king cake (a kind of Danish frosted with purple, yellow and green sugar) ahead of time, or walk in the door for a Mardi Gras trinket.
"Everyone gets a string of beads," Levy says.
Here are four restaurants where you can party like it's N'awlins -- minus the city's notorious excesses.
2823 Jerusalem Ave., North Bellmore
516-785-9263, bayou4bigfun.com
516-378-7177, rsjones.com
1 Park Lane, Massapequa
516-799-8877, bigdaddysny.com
516-682-9200, marashomemade.com
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