Restaurant Ramble & Spring Fling to spotlight downtown New Kensington eateries

New Kensington is going to ramble into spring with an all-new fling.

Tickets are being sold through Sunday for the first Restaurant Ramble & Spring Fling, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 26.

It will spotlight nearly a dozen restaurants on Fourth and Fifth avenues in downtown New Kensington.

Retail stores will be open, too, and an art show featuring Veronica Manzanilla of Kittanning will be on exhibit at the New Kensington Arts Center.

Tasting tickets cost $30 and will not be sold the day of the event. They are available online and at Voodoo Brewery, 956 Fifth Ave.

Only ticket holders will have access to special food and beverage pairings that will be available at each participating restaurant, which have been divided into appetizers, mains and desserts.

Taqueria El Pastorcito, a new Mexican restaurant coming to Fourth Avenue, was expected to be among participating restaurants but will not be ready in time, said Michelle Thom, operations manager of Voodoo Brewery. To make up for its absence, Thom said Voodoo will provide two offerings, a beef Wellington puff pastie and a Panetta goat cheese crustini, both paired with a beer.

The event is a collaborative effort, Thom said.

“We wanted to focus on assisting restaurants. Winter is notoriously difficult for restaurants,” Thom said. “We had to come up with a unique idea to bring people down. There are a lot of unique restaurants in New Kensington.”

New Kensington has Sweet Alchemy, one of the only all-vegan bakeries in Westmoreland County, and Sweet Tillies, which sells only baklava, said Jamie Parker, owner of Sweet Alchemy. Many of the businesses are owned by women and persons of color, she said.

“We’re still trying to revitalize the town and change the image,” Parker said. “You can literally spend the day here with all the different options we have. We’ve got some really good, niche businesses here.”

Participants will start at Voodoo Brewery, where wristbands and maps will be provided, Thom said. The map will include retail stores that will be open that day and may be offering specials for the event.

Where ramblers go from there is up to them. Doug Pinto, owner of Steel Cup Coffee Roasters, figures people will either start or end their tour with the coffee he’ll be offering that day.

Pinto moved his coffee roasting business from Penn Hills to New Kensington in 2021, opening in late April. The move gave him more space, and he opened a retail shop.

“We’re pretty excited. We love the fact that New Kensington is very community oriented,” he said. “We’ve been getting a lot of support since we moved here. Fridays on Fifth was a big hit. A lot of people in the neighborhood come out for these things. The other nice thing is that it’s piquing some outside interest, too. It’s been really good for New Ken.”

Fridays on Fifth, an event featuring food trucks parked along Fifth Avenue, began last year and will resume this year on April 22.

Ashley Bodycombe is about a month away from marking the first anniversary of opening her restaurant, Ashley’s Kitchen, which specializes in stuffed breads, salads and soups. For the event, she’ll be providing a mini bread paired with a spiked lemonade spritzer for adults and a flavored lemonade for those under 21.

“I’m excited for it. I think it’s such a cool idea,” she said. “People have been talking about it, which is great. They seem excited to try the new things opening down here.

“All of us small businesses are word-of-mouth,” she said. “Hopefully all of us can get more exposure and more customers coming back.”

Thom said they hope to make it an annual event.

“Get a ticket and come hungry,” she said.