Mario's Place - A Holiday Tradition and Then Some

Holidays are about tradition. However, as time passes, family members move, or other life events occur - traditions die. There is one tradition in Westport, Connecticut that hasn’t died, its just gotten stronger. For close to 50 years when the holidays come - Westport goes to Mario's Place. 

"My girlfriends and I all grew up in Westport, but we don't live there anymore,” says Marie Agresti Thomas. "However, at holiday time, we get together in Westport and every year - for close to 30 years - we get together at Mario’s".

Marie isn't alone, Mario's Place which is packed almost every night throughout the year, gets even more festive at holiday time. "The Holidays at Mario's are like a big Westport reunion." says owner Lori Kosut. "Families coming in with their kids who are home from school, the regulars with their families, groups of friends who may have moved and want to get together. Well, honestly, it’s actually like that year around. What can I say, we are very fortunate to a be a mainstay in this community" 

Mario's Place was opened in 1967 by partners Frank DeMace (Kosuts father), and Mario Sacco. It quickly became a favorite, not only for its incredible Italian food and steaks, but also for it’s bar. "Everybody who has been to Mario's knows the rotating clock which presides the most bustling bar in Fairfield County", says 'regular' Jake Briar. "They say the two martini lunch is back, but I can tell you it never died at Mario's". 

Mario's has a huge reputation, it's been mentioned in countless TV shows and movies, most notably, a 1968 episode of "The Lucy Show" where Lucy, in a nod to the legendary series "I Love Lucy" - the Ricardo's moved from New York to Westport - says "maybe I should just go back to Westport and have dinner at Mario's".

Lucy wasn’t the only celebrity eating at Mario's, Paul Newman, Joan Rivers, Tom Cruise, Bette Davis, Liza Minnelli, Academy Award winner Jessica Tandy, SNL's Jane Curtain, are just some of the celebrities who come for the same reasons locals have for decades.

But, it's not just locals either. People routinely travel from New York to dine there - which makes you question why, in a city with a thousand Italian restaurants, would someone come to Westport for an Italian meal. "Mario's is the only reason I go to Westport”, says lifelong Manhattan resident Monica Hale. "I've never lived in Westport but my husband I get a car, or take the train, and go – there’s just something so relaxing about being there, and, of course the food is great or they wouldn’t still be there. I know other New Yorkers who do the same thing we do. Mario's has something other restaurants don't, but I can't tell you what it is because I don't know."

"I don't think the prices have changed at Mario's since 1968" says Westport based author E.J. Simon, who uses Mario's as a location in his best-selling crime series. "Yet people don't go just for the value. Value is not what attracts the billionaire hedge fund guy who's sitting across the dining room from a retired Westport firefighter. What brings everybody to Mario's, and keeps them going back, is the fact that the place is a classic." Simon notes that every year a new crop of restaurants open all over Fairfield County and try to position themselves, in looks and reputation, as a classic. "Everybody wants that feeling a classic restaurant provides - going back to a time when we were less vulnerable, and life was more secure. Mario's authentically provides that feeling - and amazing food. The classic everyone tries to re-create is already here and not going anywhere. It's Mario’s."

Few things in ever-changing Westport have staying power, fewer restaurants last anywhere for close to 50 years. "It never gets old. My girlfriends and I will keep coming back until we can't anymore,” says Thomas, who will celebrate the holidays with her friends at Mario's next week. "It's funny" Thomas continues, "I feel young going back there every year with my friends, and then sometimes I feel old - usually when I see my college aged grandchildren at another table, but then I realize I’ve passed on a tradition." And, the holidays are all about tradition.