Sept. 25, 2025

Fernson Downtown is celebrating Oktoberfest on Saturday. Admission is free, with activities beginning at 11 a.m. on the patio and adjacent plaza. Fernson Brewing Co. has crafted two fest beers, and Totally Rad Eats will be serving a special menu with a pastrami chopped cheese — shown above — dunkelwurst and large pretzel. Note: The taproom opens as usual at 7:30 a.m. for coffee. Here’s the schedule of activities.

Farther north on Phillips Avenue, Stacks & Steins is back at the Holiday Inn City Centre. The Oktoberfest fun will be from 5 to 9 p.m. on the second level of the hotel parking ramp. Admission is free. Enjoy seven local and international Oktoberfest beers, pretzel bites with beer cheese, funnel fries with powdered sugar and the signature German platter with kielbasa, potato pancakes, braised cabbage and a dinner roll. See the list of beers here. Whiskey Rich will provide the music, and there will be a stein-holding competition and games.

Also celebrating Oktoberfest on Saturday is Altered Species Ales. The brewery on the south side of the Western Mall has its own brew – Big Shoes to Fill – and will have seven other Oktoberfest beers on tap, including a few from Germany. See the tap list here. Order by the pint, or buy a punch card for $35 that comes with a 13.5-ounce Moravia tankard and six fills. Hours are noon to close. “This year, we should have enough beer to stay open until 9 at least,” owner Mike Nussbaum said.

The Oktoberfest menu at Granite City Food & Brewery this year includes a sausage platter, soft pretzel sticks, jagerschnitzel, spaetzle pasta, chicken schnitzel and sweet kraut sausage sandwiches. For dessert, there’s caramel apple bread pudding. The brewery has crafted a German marzen as its Oktoberfest beer. See the food and drink descriptions here.

BibiSol has a new brunch menu with several additions. One of the new items, Picadas, is a traditional breakfast dish in Veracruz, Mexico, co-owner Marcela Salas said. Three nixtamal pinched corn tortillas are served with three kinds of salsa – chipotle, verde and roja – along with cotija, onion and chive. New toasts are Ray Ray’s, which features chorizo, bacon and a fried egg, and Mollete, which highlights black beans and seared cotija cheese. New churro and charcuterie waffles are gluten-free. Huevos Rancheros have been added, along with a potato and egg taco.

The fall menu at Parker’s Bistro features a dish that was on the original menu when the restaurant opened 16 years ago. Parker’s Grilled Pork Chop is served on a bed of the veggie medley maque choux, with sweet potato, maple and toasted pecan. Other offerings include Smorbrod with lox, mustard, capers, onion and dill on rye bread. There’s a fall pasta with sun-dried tomato, basil pesto, garlic and pecorino, and Fall Beet Carpaccio.

The traveling food truck Lobster Dogs will be in Sioux Falls for the first time Friday. It will start serving fresh lobster rolls at 3 p.m. at Glacial Lakes Distillery & Brewhouse. The crew will serve until midnight unless they sell out earlier.

Fat Daddy’s Smokehouse is taking on Sykes BBQ on Saturday at The Gaslight Lounge in the Battle of the BBQs. Serving begins at 2 p.m., and there will be people’s choice competitions for smoked ribs and pulled pork. The winner will be announced at 5 p.m. A bean bag tournament starts at 3 p.m., along with music by DJ Cam.

Lots of bars are opening early Sunday for fans to watch the Minnesota Vikings play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Ireland. Game time is 8:30 a.m. Here are a few highlights:

• Blarney Stone Pub will open at 8 a.m. and will be serving purple beer pints for $4 and mugs for $5. The brunch menu will be available earlier than usual, but the build-your-own blood mary and mimosa bars won’t be up until 10 a.m.
• McNally’s Irish Pub will open at 8 a.m. for Kegs ‘n’ Eggs with a breakfast menu and specials on mimosas and bloody marys.
• Botski’s Bar & Grill opens at 7:30 a.m. The regular breakfast menu will be available, along with an Irish bangers and mash special. Get a free Miller Lite tap when the Vikings score.

Cracker Barrel is celebrating National Pancake Day on Friday with dine-in, all-you-can-eat pancakes for $5.

IHOP’s latest Spotlight Stack is Coffee Cake Pancakes. Four buttermilk pancakes are filled with cinnamon streusel, layered with cinnamon spread and topped with more streusel, cream cheese icing and whipped topping. There’s also a short-stack version with two pancakes. Pumpkin spice pancakes are on the menu too.

The fall drink menu at Dunn Brothers Coffee includes a pumpkin pie latte, iced brown butter pumpkin shaken cold brew with oat soft whip and caramel apple chai.

Changes in hours, service

• Baking up a Storm’s new hours for fall are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday – closing at 3 p.m. Thursday through October to be part of the Lake Lorraine Farmers Market — and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

Here are other food and drink headlines from the past week.

Brookings Applebee’s building sells to restaurateur with Sioux Falls sites

New restaurant at Cherapa Place draws on S.D-inspired menu