Restaurant Roundup: New happy hour, Food Mama’s final day, Chef O’s seafood boil
Sept. 9, 2021
The new Roundhouse Brew Pub on 69th east of Cliff has added a happy hour. From 2 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, get $1 of all drinks and half-price appetizers. That includes chips and dips, fries, poutine, pretzel bites, buffalo bacon blue brussels, nachos, onion rings, cheese curds and jalapeno poppers. The pub also has received Minnesota-based Roundhouse Brewery’s Der Zug, or The Train, Oktoberfest. It’s described as a 5.3% ABV “coppery red lager full of German malt, with a medium body and full malty aroma, and just a touch of noble hop bitterness.
Next week is the final week for Food Mama before owners Joe and Yvonne Garcia move home to Wisconsin. They started the food truck in 2019, selling their “Tejano style with a little Cali twist” tacos, rice bowls, nachos and more over the lunch hour from a parking lot at 11th and Cliff. They’ll be open from from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and then Monday through Friday next week.
If you’ve been craving a dish of Chef Omar Thornton’s seafood boil, head to Leonardo’s Cafe in the Washington Pavilion on Saturday during the Sidewalk Arts Festival. The dish will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It will include five types of seafood, potatoes, sausage, rice and corn on the cob.
Calico Skies Vineyard & Winery east of Canton just across the Iowa border is celebrating the end of its grape-harvesting season and the beginning of fermentation with its fourth annual Stomp festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5, which includes wine-tasting. The first 100 people will receive a commemorative glass. The day includes live music; wood-fired pizza, ice cream and local cheeses for sale; helicopter rides; and artwork and marketplace vendors. Teams can sign up through Friday for remaining spots to compete in the grape stomp. Prelims begin at 12:20 p.m., and the championship round is at 4 p.m. The youth competition is at 2 p.m. Editor’s note: Stomp is Sunday; the day was incorrect when the article was first published.
Watecha Bowl has a new menu, and new hours start Monday. The Native American carryout restaurant has focused its menu on Indian tacos in a variety of sizes and “inside out” and vegan versions. Some of the other items include burgers with beef, buffalo, soy and black bean options, wojapi and a daily soup. Daily specials also will be offered: Monday, buffalo mac-and-cheese; Tuesday, two for $12 Indian tacos; Wednesday, $10 burger combo; Thursday, buffalo pot roast combo; and Friday, beef or buffalo BLT combo. Watecha Bowl will begin opening at 11 a.m. instead of noon daily. Closing time is 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The final Taco Rides of the season for two groups are next week. The bicycle ride organized by Scheels will gather at the store’s south entrance at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday. At 6 p.m., the group will head to the bike trail for an hourlong ride and then head back for food and drink at Vinyl Taco, which is across the parking lot from Scheels. The restaurant offers 20 percent off food to cyclists. The last Sioux Falls Taco Ride of the season will meet at 6 p.m. Sept. 16 in the Runnings parking lot on East 10th Street. After a casual ride of eight to 10 miles, cyclists will stop at Giliberto’s Mexican Taco Shop on East 10th to eat.
The new owners of Dunn Brothers Coffee on Arrowhead Parkway are now serving nitro coffee. Try the Infinite Black Cold Press infused with nitrogen gas for a “rich flavor with a smooth texture.” Enjoy it black or with a shot of flavor and cream.
The occasional Dollar Dip Days at Stensland Family Farms have been so popular that they’ve turned into a weekly happy hour. From 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, get a scoop of ice cream, with no limit on the number of dips at all three retail locations.
Dinner Birdie is back from its summer break, and Chef Jeni Thomas and crew spent some of that time testing out new recipes for the weekly meal service. The first pickup date for take-and-bake meals is Wednesday. The menu will be posted and ordering will begin Saturday on a new website, dinnerbirdie.com. Orders can be placed until 10 p.m. Monday, but quantities are limited.
The fall Blizzard menu has arrived at Dairy Queen. New flavors are Pecan Pie, Reese’s Pieces Cookie Dough and Sea Salt Toffee Fudge. Returning are Pumpkin Pie, Oreo Mocha Fudge, Choco Dipped Strawberry and Royal Ultimate Choc Brownie.
This football snack pack wins the fun packaging award. Auntie Anne’s in The Empire Mall offers a Game Day Snack Pack with two pretzel buckets, six dips and the “snack stadium.” Bucket options include mix-and-match choices of original, cinnamon sugar or mini pretzel dogs. The price is $46, and it serves five to seven people.
With the NFL season starting Sunday, the Baltic Corner is bringing back Sunday hours of noon to 8 p.m.
Here’s a look at other recent headlines.
Restaurants chop hours, enact temporary closures amid dire staffing situation
New food truck features ‘refreshing spin’ with plant-based bowls
