Knead Community Cafe works around supply issues in crafting new fall, winter menu

How does a hot turkey sandwich on Texas toast with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce sound?

Or maybe a salad with baby spinach, golden raisins, walnuts, goat cheese, red onion, green apples, crushed Ritz crackers and an apple Vidalia onion dressing?

If not, how about a porchetta with thin-sliced, grilled Italian pork roast topped with sautéed spinach, onions, peppers, a fried egg and fresh mozzarella on a grilled ciabatta roll with pesto mayo?

Those, and many more offerings, are featured on the fall and winter menu now available at Knead Community Cafe in downtown New Kensington.

They’re the creations of Chef Carlo Cimino, who attaches creative Alle-Kiski Valley names to offerings such as the “Coxcomb Hill Club,” “Pine Court Pasta Salad” and “Lower Arnold Liver & Onions.”

The liver and onions is already a hit, which Cimino attributes to men who like it but whose wives refuse to make it for them.

“People are going crazy,” he said. “Who would’ve thought?”

Burgers are always top sellers. And a San Diego Chicken sandwich is selling well — Cimino said it’s basic but has something different with melted fresh mozzarella and avocado spread.

A nonprofit, Knead was founded by Mary and Kevin Bode in 2017. It uses a pay-what-you-can/pay-it-forward model, in which patrons pay a suggested donation for food, more if they can or less if they can’t, or volunteer for up to an hour in exchange for anything off the menu.

The menu is seasonal, with one for spring and summer and another for fall and winter. The current menu will run until mid-April.

“It appeals to everyone. There’s a lot of comfort foods there,” Mary Bode said. “I do like the salads. The salads are phenomenal.”

While Cimino said prices spiked at the start of the covid pandemic, they have leveled off or are declining. Knead did not raise its prices, thanks to the generosity of sponsors and donors.

Availability of items is now more of an issue, and it’s something Cimino said he had to consider in creating the current menu.

“I try to use things that I didn’t think I would have trouble getting,” he said. “You buy extra when they’re available.”

It also means having offerings on the menu that share ingredients, especially between breakfast and lunch. A new breakfast menu starts Nov. 20.

“If you have chicken, you can make 20 different items that are all different,” he said.

Demographics also are considered.

“We have to remember who we are, what we are and where we are. We have to remember we’re in downtown New Kensington,” he said. But, “there are still foodies in downtown New Kensington.”

Sandwiches run from $6 to $12, mains range from $12 to $14, and entree salads are $11. Cimino said they price every menu item as if they have to buy everything to make it. Food donations, often unexpected, help balance things out or become specials.

Cimino, 48, owns Mazziotti Bakery in Lower Burrell, where he lives. He came to Knead in March 2019 from Hill Crest Country Club, where he had worked for seven years.

“This is more therapy. That was work,” he said. “You leave at the end of the day feeling you did something good.”

Knead is located in what had been the Sons of Italy lodge. Cimino’s grandfather was a member; it’s where his parents were married, and he worked bingo there as a kid.

“To come back here as an adult is pretty neat,” he said.

Cimino doesn’t like calling himself a chef. “I just like to cook,” he said.

“When I go out, I want to eat something I won’t make at home,” he said. “I try to do things people aren’t going to make for themselves.”

More restaurants are coming into the city, and Cimino said that’s great to see.

But rather than stepping up to them, Cimino said they’ll have to step up to Knead.

“We’ve set the bar. Everybody coming in has to measure up to us. We’re in a pretty good place, and people support us for what we have,” he said. “People come here because they’re coming to the cafe. It’s a destination.”