Restaurant Roundup: New featured items, Wicked desserts

Pizza Cheeks has several new seasonal items: Italian Wedding Soup, Cheeks Beef Sandwich,  Mushroom Bolognese Pasta and two pizzas. Local Legend features house red sauce, fresh and dry mozzarella, local fennel sausage from Dakota Craft Links, mushrooms from Dakota Mushrooms, basil gremolata and pecorino. Potato Leek starts with a potato leek soup base, topped with fresh and dry mozzarella, shaved Yukon Gold potatoes, chives and pecorino. Add bacon for an extra charge. Pizza Cheeks also let customers know that it has dropped prices on a few items. “As we’ve settled into our new kitchen, we’ve gotten faster, cleaner and more efficient. A few of our costs dropped, so we dropped the prices with them,” the restaurant noted in an email. “Nothing huge – a buck here, a buck there – but it felt right to pass the savings along instead of pretending nothing changed.”

Crawford’s Bar & Grill has several new menu items, many of which are elevated comfort foods for heading into winter. A few highlights include Harvest Chicken with roasted root veggies, pecan yam butter and cranberry sauce; Autumn Scallops with roasted acorn squash, wilted spinach, kale and a puree of root veggies and herbs; and Meatball Stroganoff. The winning dish of October’s Downtown Pork Showdown – Bavarian Echoes — is still on the menu, along with the 2024 winning dish, Bourbon Apple Pork.

Maribella Ristorante has added three seafood dishes and a lamb entree to the menu. Capesante di Mare features pan-seared diver scallops with a chef’s choice rotating side. Salmone al Pesto is a pan-seared Atlantic salmon filet served with pesto gnocchi and topped with bruschetta. The traditional seafood soup Cioppino includes tiger prawns, scallop and mussels in a tomato fennel broth. Angello is a braised lamb shank with a cherry red wine reduction and mint gremolata, served with a choice of risotto.

Granite City Food & Brewery has a new Holiday Comfort Classics menu. Options include Barbacoa Nachos, Mustard Cream Pork Tenderloin, Bolognese, French Onion Cheesesteak and Roasted Turkey Dinner. For something sweet, the Dessert Duo offers two treats: a warm pumpkin-spiced streusel cake with maple glaze and a chocolate brownie topped with chocolate mousse. Seasonal sips include the Mistletoe Martini, Snow on the Beach, Ho Ho-Jito, Yule Be Buzzin’ and Santa’s Little Helper. The brewery’s seasonal beer is Falling Leaf Harvest Ale with flavors of caramel, cinnamon and pumpkin. See the menu descriptions here.

To celebrate the release of “Wicked: For Good,” Crave American Kitchen & Sushi Bar is featuring the Wicked Menu with desserts, cocktails and mocktails through Dec. 15. Choose between the Good Witch’s Favorite Blueberry Mousse and Emerald Envy Pistachio Mousse, or get both to share with a friend.

Gateway Bar & Grill is offering a free drink to those who drop off a toy for the Children’s Home Society from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2. The toys will be delivered Dec. 8.

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

Pop-up nightclub-style event debuts Friday