ALBANY — Governor Spitzer is not known as a hamburger and hot dog type of guy, but yesterday the steely executive took his suit jacket off and welcomed hundreds of his Albany neighbors to a spring evening barbecue at the Governor’s Mansion.

Some have said Mr. Spitzer has fallen short of his campaign promise to “change everything.” But for the Mansion Neighborhood residents, many of whom couldn’t recall the last time they were invited to the mansion, the party was an unusually warm gesture from a sitting governor.

Governors of New York and the residents of Mansion, a demographically mixed area of row houses just south of the Empire State Plaza, have traditionally not been the closest of neighbors. The Mansion Neighborhood Association Web site says Governor Pataki’s decision not to live in the mansion was a “sore point with many of us.”

Mr. Spitzer, who stays about half the week in Albany and spends the other half with his family on the Upper East Side, said Mr. Pataki “never had the public in.”

About 500 guests were treated to a dinner of mesclun salad, coleslaw, baked beans, watermelon, lemonade, locally made sodas, and grilled nitrite-free hot dogs, chickenbreast patties, cheeseburgers, and veggie-burgers.

They dined off of biodegradable plates and used recyclable cutlery. In the backyard of the Victorian mansion, clowns painted children’s faces, while Albany musician Ernie Williams filled the air with the blues.

The event was paid for out of the annual $150,000 entertaining budget of the mansion.

“I’ve lived in Albany all my life, and it’s my first time here,” said Beverly Berghela, a state employee. The only time she had spent at the mansion, she said, was when she “peaked though the gates.”

Tenesha Douglas, who came with her husband and two small children, said she showed up because she wanted to see if the governor “was going to use this as an opportunity to push his platform, to see if he’s going to make a speech.”

Mr. Spitzer did not make a political speech but welcomed his neighbors with brief remarks, saying he and the First Lady, Silda Wall, wanted to demonstrate that “we’re part of the community.”

Mr. Spitzer, in a grinning mode, gradually made his way around the grounds, as hundreds of people approached him to shake his hand and make small talk.

Ms. Wall wore a white blazer with black trim and boot-cut khakis. Mr. Spitzer’s evening barbecue attire was a shiny teal tie over a starched white dress shirt, and pinstripe suit trousers. He wore his BlackBerry in his belt holster but did not check his e-mail.

At one point, Mr. Spitzer bent over to pass on advice to a 7-year-old child whose arm was in a sling.

“Remember what I told you,” the governor said, “If you want your elbow to get better, eat lots of ice cream.”

Mr. Spitzer said the most interesting guests of the evening were a group of half a dozen elderly sisters from a nearby convent.

“They said come over and visit anytime,” Mr. Spitzer said.