It’s one of my very favorite weeks of the year: the one leading up to the Saratoga Book Festival!

I’ll be leading a “happy hour” crime fiction sesh at UPH this Saturday at 3:30/4 p.m. with Saratogian Nic DiDomizio (A Murder Most Camp) and Hot Girl Murder Club’s Ashley Winstead.

How can a session start at 3:30-slash-4? Because the author chat starts at 4, but of course I added an actual happy (half) hour/author mingle starting at 3:30. And of course I also added a drawing for four evidence — I mean, swag — bags filled with goodies, including signed books. 📸 Seen in Saratoga will be there, too. Come on down!

Then on Sunday, we begin Mahjong at McGregor at a new time: 11 a.m.

And the Oct. 14 Dinner Club is heating up: Come meet 50+ of your neighbors — including ME! (Dinners are six to a table, with everyone coming together afterwards for a nightcap.)

🥃 Before all of that, I’m headed to Yaddo Wednesday for a dreamy bourbon-inspired chef dinner — because I’m a sucker for high-end tastes from private collections. (IYKYK.) There are a few tickets left (hint, hint)…

Lots to choose from … see you soon?

— Abby

Saratoga’s new, hidden tiki lounge

By Jonathon Norcross

Saratoga’s new tiki lounge is so thoroughly concealed from the downtown hubbub that, halfway down the potholed and trash-lined Straus Place, you begin to wonder if you’re even on the right alley.

Then you see it: the blue and pink angler fish that signals you’re about to submerge into the Spa City’s coolest new bar. At the entrance, you peer down dimly-lit stairs at a busty mermaid statue and a leafy wall covered with Polynesian masks.

This is The Grotto, the latest venture from Alex Straus and Matt Pedersen of The Night Owl fame. The lounge is contained within the space formerly known as Night Owl’s Red Room, except now it’s more of a pink, green, purple, blue and red room.

The Grotto officially opened its back-alley door about a week ago. On Friday night at 7:30, it was mostly empty. By 8:30, it was packed to the gills. A black-and-white classic film played on a screen near the nautical-themed bar and hostess stand; ‘70s Santana and Latin jazz provided a score. An imprisoned swordfish lurked near a small, indoor waterfall. The bathroom walls were covered in vintage rum ads. At the center of the room: a massive, curved couch lit by a pufferfish.

Private booths with small portholes screened videos of ocean waves on a loop. That’s where I quickly downed a Seawitch (white rum, cinnamon, mango, and strega) served in a ceramic snake (pro tip: my server said that if it’s your birthday, you get to take a cocktail receptacle home). Other drinks are served in a shell, leaning glass, and a highball that depicts a woman strumming a ukulele near shrunken heads. 

The drinks are conveniently divided into five categories: The Shallows (not-so-strong cocktails), Stronger Tides (strong cocktails), Classic Creatures (tiki mainstays), Hidden Treasures (more creative options), Zero Proof (mocktails), and Large Format (colossal concoctions that serve between two and six people).

My wife and I shared the pu pu platter (our server said we were the first to order it), which was served in a bamboo steamer basket that contained pork bao buns, crab rangoon and dumplings (it was tasty af). Other food options included pork or veggie potstickers, spicy shrimp wontons, cucumber salad, cold sesame noodles, spring rolls, a fish-shaped ice cream sandwich, and coconut sorbet.

The Grotto is open Thursday-Sunday from 6 p.m. to either 2 a.m. or “late.” Food is served all night. Reservations accepted.

There's only one SPAC in Conversation a year, and it always sells out — so get your tickets now. The popular fundraiser returns to the Hall of Springs Wednesday, Oct. 7 for a plated luncheon and boutique shopping, followed by a conversation with The New Yorker’s Dorothy Wickenden, bestselling author of The Agitators.

"SPAC In Conversation isn't just about the conversation," says fashion maven and former New York Times Style photo editor Tiina Loite, who’s moderating the event. "Our audience has the opportunity to support local businesses (aka, shop), socialize and network with other attendees as well as listen to our talented guest, author Dorothy Wickenden. The events of her book take place in 1800s Upstate New York, and the three featured women were determined to make a difference — and they succeeded."

"During the conversation,” she adds, “we will also weave in Emma Willard, another female activist of the 1800's whose relationship to the Capital Region, specifically education in this area, is important to note and applaud."

Thursday
7 p.m. – Eric Idle’s Idle in Provence at UPH (tickets required and come with a signed copy of the book). Kick-off preview of this “hilarious and tender” memoir of Idle’s time in a “ramshackle” post in the South of France.

Friday
6 p.m. – Encore of last year’s uber-popular Literary Night Market at UPH. “It’s become a festival within the festival,” says Friends of the Saratoga Springs Public Library ED Jen Allen. Think live music, cash bar, special pre-holiday appearance by Novel Ideas, strolling magicians — and the best local authors from Saratoga County.

Saturday
9:30 a.m. - “Devising and Revising Poetry,” with poet Marilyn McCabe and Saratoga’s Poet Laureate, Jay Rogoff. (at the library)
10 a.m. - HEADLINER: Chris Bohjalian (The Flight Attendant) talks about his newest blockbuster, The Amateur, with WAMC’s Joe Donahue. (at UPH)
11:30 a.m. – HEADLINER: Julia Alvarez (How the García Girls Lost Their Accents), National Medal of Arts winner, speaks with Northshire’s Rachel Person about Visitations, her first poetry collection in more than 20 years, and her newest book, a graphic novel: In the Time of the Butterflies. (at UPH)
1 p.m. - “Sapphic Second Acts,” with authors Kate Fagan, Kim van Alkemade (you’ll recognize her from Northshire) and Kayla Rae Whitaker. They discuss the fictional women in their books who leave their old lives behind to “live and love authentically.” (at Saratoga Arts)

Sunday
10 a.m. – HEADLINER: Joan Lunden (at Zankel Music Center; reservations recommended)
🧸 1-4 p.m. - KidZone, now at the Children’s Museum! (FREE but reservations recommended)