Holiday diners thrilled with return of Thanksgiving Day buffet in New Kensington

Dan Leo barely had time to advertise his Thanksgiving dinner before he started running out of tickets.

The former popular holiday buffet has returned to the ballroom at The Quality Inn in New Kensington, and diners were lined up in advance of the noon start time.

The annual Thanksgiving buffet had been shut down for more than a decade said Leo, of Leechburg, who organized the event. Leo, along with his wife, Brenda, own Leo’s Sports Page Bar & Grill in the same building. The hotel is owned and operated separately.

“The customers are ecstatic that it’s back. People have been asking us to bring back all the holiday buffets that went by the wayside during covid,” Leo said.

Advance reservations were required and sold out fast, with 600 diners reserving seats in less than two weeks.

Pete Messina of Tarentum had come to all of the previous Thanksgiving dinners before they ended, and used to play in a country band, Barn Hill, that performed at the hotel.

“You get a lot of choices,” Messina said. “If you don’t like turkey, you can always get something else.”

Just a taste of the buffet at the Quality Inn’s Thanksgiving dinner in New Kensington. 40 turkeys coming… pic.twitter.com/PMMMcZiwVq

— Patrick Varine - Tribune-Review (@VarineTrib) November 23, 2023

The buffet featured more than 80 food items and several intricate ice carving decorations. About a dozen employees staffed the buffet operations.

“They started cooking the turkeys around 10:30 p.m. (Wednesday) night,” said Valarie Porter of Harrison, who was helping to set up the buffet table.

New chef Lenny Verosky of West View was busy even earlier, prepping more than $8,000 worth of food from the kitchen on Monday.

“They needed something spectacular and something made from scratch,” Verosky said.

Verosky was raised in Bethel Park but his culinary pursuits have taken him across the country and into Canada. He trained under German-trained chef Stanley Baumhaeur. Verosky was most recently the chef at the VFW Post 92 in Lower Burrell. He created an expansive menu, including a raw bar with shrimp, clams and mussels.

To prepare, Verosky and his staff cooked 40 turkeys, 300 pounds of roast beef and 250 pounds of turkey breast.

Ray DiPerna of Brackenridge used to work at the hotel, and reserved his ticket as soon as he heard Verosky would be preparing the menu.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, I want to see what Lenny’s going to do,” DiPerna said. “I tried to talk the whole family into coming, but you know — tradition. So we’re going to go over there later.”

Leo’s next culinary addition will be called Leo’s Roadhouse, serving steak and fresh seafood and is set to open in January , next to Leo’s Sports Page.

“We’re pretty excited about it. We enjoy doing what we do,” Leo said.

Leo grew up in Cheswick, and his family owned and operated The Sands Motorlodge and then Leo’s Hotel Bar and Grill, which was sold in 2001.

“We just hope they’re blown away by what we’re doing up here,” Leo said. “We’re excited to have Chef Lenny here.”

James Kirkland of Harrison came to the Thanksgiving buffet five years in a row before it stopped.

“It was so good, I couldn’t wait to come back every year,” he said. “As soon as someone told me they were bringing it back, I knew I was coming.”

Leo can also remember the massive New Year’s Eve parties the hotel used to host.

“We’re bringing that back as well,” he said. “This is one of the only hotels in the area with this size of a ballroom. I’m really excited about what we have coming up.”