Review: BITES AND PINTS FESTIVAL 2023 Brings Music and Food Back to Kennywood Park

One of my favorite events I cover yearly is the Kennywood Bites and Pints festival, but this summer's erratic weather has left me unable to attend as early as I usually do. Now it's here, at the end of July, and I'm finally able to say... third time is most definitely the charm. The festival is as good as ever, and the last of the pandemic-era limitations on the park's entertainment offerings have been lifted. Life is good at Kennywood.

I'll start with the one biggest change from the past two years: entertainment is back full swing at the park. There's a standard "theme park show" for mealtime entertainment on the stage by the Turtles: though it's nothing extraordinarly surprising, its "all mashups all the time" format is a fun change of pace. I enjoyed the Fall Out Boy medley and the tribute to Pittsburgh's unofficial theme song "Renegade," both featuring vocals from Johnny Reardon, who some of you may have seen as the lead in Footloose at Stage Right! or Rock of Ages at Mon River Arts earlier this spring. Along with this, costumed characters roamed the park all day as they are wont to do (even in this post Five Nights at Freddy's era), and an oompah trio played polkas, waltzes, drinking songs and folk tunes seemingly all day from the main stage. They sounded good, even to a non-polka-lover like myself, though their music was often mingled with the sound of the carousel in slightly discordant ways due to the placement of the speakers throughout the park.

The rides, of course, are spectacular as always, though two that I had particularly intended to try (new offering Spinvasion and most extreme coaster the Steel Curtain) were down for maintenance that day. Despite this, lines throughout the park moved at a quick rate and never held my friend and I back for very long (except the Exterminator, which is always the slowest due to boarding passengers only two at a time). I was even able to jump onto the Thunderbolt twice in a row without a wait, a true rarity any time of year. I'm partial to the high speed ups and downs of the modern coasters like the Sky Rocket and the Phantom's Revenge, but the rougher rides and constant hippity-hop bounces of the wooden coasters have a charm that's hard to explain but hard to ignore too. And no matter how simple it is, the Wave Swinger still makes me feel like a kid at the end of E.T. flying over the town below.

Now let's talk about the real deal: the Bites and Pints offerings themselves. Every year, the menu has expanded and altered, adding new countries and subbing out older ones. France, for instance, is gone, though still represented in Italy's booth with some delicious fried cheese curds. I won't flatter myself that Kennywood's master chefs read my reviews, but a few years ago I noted that during these hot summer days, the cream sauces over many of the dishes had a tendency to curdle or go bad quickly in the heat; ever since then, less dishes have relied on thick creamy sauces in abundance. It's worth noting, however, that the drinks advertised as frozen are often not able to sustain that freeze all day; my friend assures me the drinks are delicious even in liquid form, but if you were hoping for a nice icy margarita, get ready for a cold drink instead of a frozen one.

When it comes to the best in show, I think I have to award it to the ravioli at Italy: several rich but delicate mushroom ravioli in a cream sauce with freshly shaved parmesan. (Yes, I just complained about cream sauces before, but it wasn't the hottest evening so maybe I got lucky.) The cordeiro lamb chop at Brazi was also a highlight, and I was surprised to find I enjoyed the cassava fries in an onion sauce as much as the lamb chop itself. Classic offerings like the Polish pierogies and Japanese gyoza were delicious as well; nothing was bad in the entire selection. One observation my friend and I shared is that this year seemed weighted more towards entrees than past years; there was a distinct lessening of the snack, dessert and appetizer choices on the menu. The German pretzel sticks and Jamaican rum cake were among the only offerings of that kind. (Another comment from my friend: "bring back yakitori!")

My heart is full, my stomach is full, and my refrigerator is also full of half-eaten entrees I couldn't bear throwing out before leaving the park. Kennywood is a summer institution for a million reasons, and I hope the Bites and Pints festival stays for many years to come too. Up next for the park: their legendary Phantom Fright Fest offering at Halloween... if you're brave enough to check it out, that is.

To post a comment, you must register and login.