The Pony Show's beautiful & bespoke private dinners

Happy Thursday, Capital District! Today, we’re introducing you to The Pony Show, producers of beautiful bespoke dinner parties. Plus, we’ve got your Top 5 Weekend Picks, and everything else worthwhile happening around town.

Let’s 🦘to it!

—Phat X. Chiem & Karley Sullivan

The Pony Show will turn your dinner party into a magical affair

There’s nothing better than an intimate dinner party with superb company, incredible food and good vibes. But hosting a great dinner is loads of work! There’s all the grocery shopping, prepping, cooking, serving, and cleaning. It’s enough to make you want to order pizza and call it a day.

Thankfully, The Pony Show will do it all for you, from the menu making to the cleanup. You just provide the space and invite your favorite people. And the couple running the show? They’re the coolest, and their culinary creations are out of this world.

Paula Patterson and Tony Angelicola met at the now-closed New World Bistro Bar in Albany. She was front of the house and he was running the kitchen. “Pony” has been their shared nickname “through years of cooking, eating, and laughing together.”

While Tony now works primarily as a tattoo artist, Paula serves as Pony Show’s head chef. A self-taught cook, she helped build out the pizza program at Donna’s Italian Restaurant in Troy under then-chef Zoe Krumanocker, and is a wine consultant for Troy Wine Co. and Clark House Hospitality.

Pony Show specializes in creating bespoke dinners that look as good as they taste. Working together with the hosts, the couple will plan out a five-course menu featuring the best seasonal vegetables and meats, all procured from local farms. Edible Uprising Farm in the Hudson Valley is their main purveyor of produce.

Dinners always end with an eye-popping dessert spread—and very happy guests. The Pony Show aren’t caterers so much as they’re creative producers of intimate, in-home dining experiences where locally grown food is celebrated.

“We do every single piece, from the tablescapes to the cooking and serving, then we clean everything up,” Paula tells us over coffee at Jacob Alejandro in Troy. “Our goal is to bring people together, and also to bring awareness to the importance of farms, because there's a lot of disconnect these days between people and their food.”

One of the ways they bridge that gap is hosting stunning alfresco dinners on the farms themselves, a couple of times a year. Edible Uprising Farm is a favorite location, along with The Grange of Hudson Valley, a 90-acre farm estate in Coxsackie. (These events sell out so be sure to get on their mailing list.)

“You go out in the field, you see all the stuff on the vines, you pick it, you go back and get it all ready, and then you put it out on the table,” Paula says. “It's honestly so magical.”

And, yes, The Pony Show does weddings (micro weddings for 50 and under). Private dinners cost around $110 per person, with add-ons like wine and cheese pairings extra. They will travel anywhere in the Hudson Valley and the Capital District.

Here are Paula’s picks: Lil’ Debs Oasis and Rivertown Lodge in Hudson, Hamlet and Ghost in Saratoga, and Quinnie’s in Claverack.

❄️ WEATHER WATCH

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🚓 Sadly, both of the children who fell through the ice on Washington Park Lake last Saturday have now died. [USA TODAY]. North Albany Middle School, where the children attended school, has set up a GoFundMe campaign. Nearly $35K has already been raised to help the families involved in this tragedy.

❄️ Lake Placcid has been chosen as the Plan B location for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg has been designated as the backup venue for sliding events—luge, bobsled, and skeleton—if renovations to the century-old track in Italy are not completed in time for the Games. [Times Union]

🥐 Nyx: A Scratch Baking Co., located on Albany’s Lark Street shopping corridor, is closing on Dec. 31 after just two years in business. Owner Shannon Dowen-Ronda cited financial challenges, including rising costs and slow business, as reasons for the closure. [Times Union]

⭐️ = 518 Staff Picks

⭐️ Speedo-clad racers will be competing for attention with the best chili and chowder in town for this double header on Lark Street in Albany. The 19th Annual Santa Speedo Sprint is happening in conjunction with the 8th Annual Chili and Chowder Stroll. Sat, 11a—4p. Race begins at 2p. Admission to both is free.

⭐️ Here’s your chance to drink and be merry while donning a Santa’s cap—without looking silly. Saratoga SantaCon, billed as the Capital District’s biggest bar crawl, is a holiday favorite that benefits the Franklin Community Center. Sat, 1-8p, $17.85.

⭐️ A holiday tradition for many families, “The Nutcracker” pirouettes into two Capital Region venues this weekend. The Albany Berkshire Ballet presents its 50th anniversary edition at The Egg. Meanwhile, Northeast Ballet brings its rendition of the classic ballet at Proctors.

 ⭐️ Get your shopping done right at these holiday markets featuring local artisans and merchants. The Takk House is opening its doors this Saturday for Vintage Roundup Holiday Market, Sat, 11a,—4p, $8+. That evening, the Albany Twilight Market makes its monthly return to the Washington Park Lakehouse, where admission is free. And the Schenectady Winter Village is a cozy winter wonderland under the greenhouse this weekend and next.

⭐️ No Fun celebrates 3 years as the Capital Region’s top spot for experimental music, good beer and no-holds-bar dancing. Come for a smokin’ lineup of Lou Reed covers by hot local bands. Sat, doors open at 7p, $10 early admission, $15 at the door.

🎟️ MORE NOTABLE EVENTS

TODAY

💘 Speed dating with ugly Christmas sweaters? Should be an easy ice breaker. Tix are going fast for Thursday’s date night at the Lionheart Pub.

🎄 The Schenectady County Historical Society’s annual Festival of Trees is a charming holiday tradition, through Dec. 28.

🕯️ Magic of Lights continues at the Altamont Fairgrounds with nightly shows. Don’t feel like paying admission to see holiday lights? Santa’s Playland at Quick Response in Round Lake is totally free! And new this year, Christmas at Animal Land features a live nativity scene with camels, goats, sheep, and a donkey.

FRIDAY

🎙️ The Mendelssohn Club of Albany, a men’s chorus and the oldest performing group in the Capital District, takes its talents to The Egg for a holiday show.

🧝 The annual holiday screening of “The Elf” is back at Proctors, with prizes, sing-alongs, and treats like all-you-can-eat popcorn.

SATURDAY

🎄 The Albany Gay Men’s Chorus puts on “Merry & Bright,” a holiday celebration at Albany’s St. Episcopal Church.

🐩 Your furry best friends have been totally good this year, right? This Saturday, The Pampered Pooch & Pals in Ballston Spa invites you for holiday photos with Santa. 100% of proceeds benefit local shelters.

🥟 Pierogis, anyone? The Polish Christmas Food Sale takes place at the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Latham. Be sure to make your preorders now.

🎅 Mick Treadwell, the beloved producer of the Spontaneous Broadway musicals, returns with his annual sendup of the holiday season at Mopco Improv Theatre.

SUNDAY

🎸 Do your kids love Tay Tay? On Sunday, The Rock & Roll Playhouse is putting on a kid-friendly rock concert at Lark Hall with the music of Taylor Swift & more.

🎸 LIVE MUSIC & MORE

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