Imagine going to bed one night and questioning whether your restaurant will succeed, only to wake up the next morning to find your phone is blowing up with texts and emails congratulating you for being named to the “50 Favorite Restaurants” list by The New York Times. Kyle Sollenberger, the co-owner of Passerine, experienced such a scenario a year ago.

Life as Kyle knew it was not the same after “the list” hit the Internet and social media. Wait times for reservations at the 80-seat restaurant suddenly stretched well into the fall, even for a table on a weeknight. “We had no idea that was coming,” he says of being named to “the list.” Oddly enough, he does follow the Times’ food blogger/writer Nikita Richardson’s Instagram account. “One day I was looking at it and noticed a picture that looked familiar,” he says of the post that was dated July 24, Lancaster, PA, and simply read, “I know a scallop hate to see me coming.” A little later, he received a media request for pictures from the Times. He sent them “and heard nothing,” admitting, “I was a little disheartened.”   

When “the list” was revealed in mid-September, Passerine was complimented for “quietly serving outstanding dishes made with the bounty of the surrounding farmland and accented by global sensibilities.” Kyle is still mystified by the fact that Richardson was able to slip in and out of the restaurant without fanfare. Detective work revealed that she took an incognito ploy and used a fake name to make the reservation. “You never know who’s going to walk through the door,” Kyle says.

Clockwise, from top left:

• From the Farm: Local roasted half chicken is prepared with a 24-hour koji brine. It’s served atop braised seasonal vegetables and herb butter.
• From the Field: First Harvest Salad is comprised of snap peas, strawberries, radishes and  greens, and is seasoned with herb salt.
• A Riesling from Hermann J. Weimer, Finger Lakes, New York.
• Spring peas are enhanced with fennel flowers, mint and preserved lemon.
• Swarm of Sound is made with Tom Cat gin, marigold amaro, local bee pollen honey cordial and lemon.
• The French-inspired Steak Tartare is made with beef, chives, pickles, house ranch, koji, shaved/cured egg yolk and lemon, and is topped with sunchoke chips. 
• The Negroni Terrior utilizes seasonal ingredients such as blueberries, which are paired with Terrior gin, spruce campari, vermouth and pasubio.

Indeed, Passerine has managed to carve out a niche in a city that is brimming with restaurants that are beloved by foodies who utilize sites such as Open Table and Resy and subscribe to food- and restaurant-related magazines and online newsletters. “Lancaster has become a world-class destination,” he says of the attention that is being paid to the culturally diverse restaurants and the farm-to-table philosophy that keeps menus evolving. Passerine has managed to put the two together and offer guests a small but adventurous menu that infuses farm-to-table with global influences.

A year later, Passerine is still busy, although Kyle reports it’s returned to a more normal pace these days.

A World of Ideas

Kyle Sollenberger is not a textbook study. “I love to learn but I was not a particularly good student,” he says of high school. “I got great grades in the classes I liked,” he says, referring to anything having to do with art and technology, which seemingly are polar opposites, but Kyle sees them as holding influence over one another. As for the subjects that didn’t appeal to him, he admits his grades reflected that level of disinterest.

For as long as he can remember, Kyle wanted to become an architect. “But that would have meant going to college and I had decided that wasn’t for me,” he states. So, he forged his own career path and diverted his interest by applying architectural concepts to virtual space, starting  with websites for his Punk band while in high school. “There’s a lot of problem solving involved in both designing spaces and websites,” he explains, noting they both engage people and either intrigue them or leave them cold.

In 2002, the Mechanicsburg native moved to Lancaster. In 2006, he married his wife, Jessica, who is from York County; they met through mutual friends. Kyle had begun consulting for start-up tech companies and working on his own projects, one of which, CoTweet, a software tool for managing Twitter (now X) accounts, took him to California. (The software found a buyer in 2010.)  “We were living in San Francisco, and loved it out there,” Kyle shares. Parenthood (the Sollenbergers now have four children) and new opportunities brought them back to Lancaster.

Crystalizing His Vision

“I love creating things,” Kyle comments. His interest in physical spaces was renewed when he made the acquaintance of Crystal Weaver. “I met her through mutual friends, and as a frequent guest of her Prince Street Café, ” he adds. Weaver was an entrepreneur in her own right, as she envisioned developing companies and job opportunities within the hospitality sector that, according to her online bio, are “meaningful, empowering, and forward thinking.” The two joined forces when Kyle approached Crystal about expanding Prince Street Café’s operations in a renovated warehouse; subsequently, another acquaintance expressed interest in starting a coffee roasting company in Lancaster, which led to the debut of Passenger.

Kyle and Crystal ultimately founded Commons, a multifaceted management company that has realized success through such endeavors as the ever-expanding Prince Street Café, Passenger and Merrymaker Catering, an office-focused catering company that provides companies with boxed/packaged meals for meetings and corporate events. Commons, which is based on Marion Street, employs about 75 people. The building provided Kyle with another avenue for exploring architecture, as it is an example of adaptive reuse.

Creating a working relationship with Weaver came easy. “I’ve been surrounded by women all my life,” Kyle says. “I have four sisters … two older, two younger than me.” He is the father of two daughters. Kyle, in part, credits his mother for his entrepreneurial spirit. “She owned a general store and was a floral designer. I’d often ride my bike to her store and help her,” he recalls. The management team at Passerine includes two women, Michelle Malec (general manager) and Jen Splain (beverage director). “Women can accomplish great things,” he states.

There have been some disappointments along the way. In 2014, he and Weaver announced plans to open a boutique hotel along North Prince Street (actually, next to Passerine). Timing thwarted those plans and they sold the property.

In 2022, when Kyle learned that a building near the courthouse that was designed by C. Emlen Urban was becoming available, he jumped at the opportunity to take it over. “I even had a name for it, Bar Cassius,” he says, referring to Urban’s first name. He points to “roadblocks” as the reason for postponing the dream to  to operate his own restaurant.

Successes, however, have definitely outshined the missteps. Prince Street Café (2006), which specializes in light, healthy and local food and drink, has thrived, and has given way to locations in Columbia (2023) and York (2019).

Passenger, which utilizes coffee beans and tea grown by farmer-focused partnerships established around the world (thus the company’s tagline, “Enjoy the Journey”), is another of Kyle’s businesses. “I drink a lot of coffee,” he says of what fuels the many directions his mind travels in a day. “Growing Passenger is high on the To-Do list,” he says. What began as an airstream trailer stationed in a parking lot along North Prince Street, has grown into a café on West King Street and a coffee bar on North Plum Street. It’s also a choice brew at a wide range of local shops, as well as those throughout the Mid-Atlantic and as far away as Washington and California. Kyle takes pride in reporting that Passenger is often included on “Best of” lists for the top roasters in the world. Such accolades help to “shine a light on Lancaster,” he says.

Birds of a Feather

Kyle’s dream to own a restaurant was renewed later in 2022, when he learned that a space on North Prince Street would soon become available. “It’s a great location,” he says of its proximity to Gallery Row and downtown. He also liked the character of the historic building and the cozy indoor spaces it offers, which would give him the opportunity to use his skills in architecture and design. He and his partner on the project, Dr. Jonathan Shirey, became restaurant owners.

Kyle had his own ideas about how the restaurant would look and function. The restaurant would complement his love of food, which, he says, includes anything from mom-and-pop fare to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris. It would also allow him to change up the concept of a restaurant by selling cookbooks (curated by his wife, Jessica) and operating a bottle shop that specializes in regional wines. (His criteria for the selections focus on small, interesting wineries that emphasize sustainability.) “I don’t care if someone comes in and buys a bottle of wine to take to a BYOB restaurant,” he says. “It gets them in the door.” (Sort of like the homepage of a website.)

Finally, a restaurant would allow him to design a concept that combines his love of international cuisine with the bounty of Lancaster County. Passerine’s menu is ever evolving, reflecting the hyper-local direction that keeps customers returning. “We refer to our menu as ‘New American,’” he explains, pointing out that it is influenced by French cooking but leans eclectic, as it’s driven by what is available.

That sense of dining at a French countryside inn (or even a farmhouse kitchen in Lancaster County) is reflected in the fact that no two dinner plates are the same. Sourcing vintage dinner ware is a team effort. “It’s a job in itself,” he laughs. “I’m always searching. It’s good I thrive under pressure!”

The farm-to-table concept also provided him with a way to honor his farm partners by providing them with opportunities to interact with guests during special “educational” dinners. “We hold the dinners quarterly and they always sell out,” he reports.

All the restaurant needed was a name. Kyle shares that coming up with a name for a restaurant “is hard” and often begins with an owner, family, friends and staff compiling lists of potential names. “Joshua Manny had ‘Passerine’ on his list,” Kyle notes.

So, what is the meaning behind the restaurant’s name? Ornithologically speaking, passerine denotes a “large order of birds distinguished by feet that are adapted to perching, including all songbirds.” When you think about it, the name is perfect, as it embodies Kyle’s ability to adapt his ideas to projects that come his way. “We liked it; it checked all the boxes since it pertained to beauty – birds are beautiful – and nature,” Kyle recalls. “Plus, it was available.”

“Passerine is exactly what I wanted it to be,” he says more than two years after opening its doors. He also is thankful for the equally passionate staff that help him “keep the wheels on.” They include …

Kevin Venbrux, Passerine’s executive chef, was raised in Elizabethtown. Interest in cooking was first inspired by an aunt and later through experimenting on his own. However, Kevin took another career path, music. Ironically, travel with various bands “opened up a whole new world” from a food perspective and helped him to “figure out my own palate.” The exercise in self-discovery led to the realization that he preferred “super-simple food” that had “little done to it.”

Returning to Lancaster, he went to work for a variety of restaurants. “I was ready for a change,” he says of a three-year stint at a restaurant in Lititz, “and, I knew Kyle, so when the opportunity to work at Passerine was presented, I jumped at it. Things fell into place for me.”

Now, there’s nothing he enjoys more than talking to and learning from farmers, notably Alex Wenger of Field’s Edge Research Farm in Lititz. “There’s nothing quite like eating veggies right out of the ground!” he says. He also loves the flexibility that being hyper-local offers. “I can change things on the fly,” he notes.

For Kevin, life is good. “I have a fantastic team and I can walk one block and be at Central Market,” he says. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Michelle Malec, Passerine’s general manager, has been “immersed in the industry” from an early age. “I started working at Freez & Frizz in Lititz at 15,” she says. She went on to work at The Log Cabin for seven years as a server and hostess. Moving to Bent Creek Country Club, she became the assistant manager of the dining room and rose to the position of events coordinator. At Stoudt’s, she served as front of house manager.

In 2016, she decided it was time for an adventure. “I was turning 30 and was ready for a change, so I moved to Hawaii,” she explains. Two years later, she was back in Lancaster and working for Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative.

At Passerine, she loves interacting with guests. She tells two stories that drive home the fact that food truly possesses the power to touch our emotions. One woman approached her in tears, sharing that Passerine’s chicken dish reminded her of childhood dinners at her grandmother’s house. Another guest raved over the panna cotta dish, telling Michelle it took him back to a trip he made to Italy 30 years ago. As for Passerine being named to The New York Times’ “favorite restaurant” list, Michelle says it was “a bit of a crazy whirlwind around here that caused us to have to pivot.”

Jen Splain is Passerine’s beverage director. Jen grew up in Lancaster and started her mixology career at a private social club in Columbia. In 2009 she set off on a cross-country road trip and when her Volkswagen bus broke down in Asheville, North Carolina, she saw it as a sign that the mountain town with a reputation for superior food and drink was where she was meant to be. She worked at various awarded cocktail programs and seasonally driven restaurants in Asheville while working towards a botany degree and studying folk herbalism in the Appalachian Mountains. The experience shaped her seasonally driven, culinary-style approach to cocktails.

Jen returned to Lancaster when Covid shutdowns were instituted. After a stint at Bar 1888 at Southern Market, she joined Passerine, where she uses her interest in herbalism and other natural products to create syrups and infusions that pair with locally made spirits to create unique cocktails. “I love to seek out the local, obscure, small producer,” she says of both spirits and wine. Jen’s talents earned her a third-place finish at last year’s VeloCity cocktail competition.

114 North Prince Street, Lancaster
Cafepasserine.com