The name may say “week,” but Cedar Rapids Restaurant Week is a 10-day-long celebration of the city’s breakfast, lunch and dinner options. The “Cedar Rapids” part isn’t strictly accurate either, since Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery in Swisher and the hip-stir in Marion are among the 19 restaurants participating this year.
The week expanded to 10 days in 2022 to mark the event’s 10th anniversary, and this year it kicks off on Friday and runs through Sunday, Feb. 25.
All 19 participating restaurants will have special menu items on offer during the 10 days. You can go from a Florentine Roll Up for breakfast at Groundswell Cafe one morning, to having the Fried Chick’n with Maple and Whiskey Glaze for a vegetarian lunch at Lion Bridge Brewing Co. on another, and enjoy dinner at Black Sheep Social Club with its special, the Smoked Beef Brisket Elote the next day. And all week long there’s the option of finishing the day at La Cantina with some ChurriCream w/Fried Churros & Ice Cream or a margarita flight. Or both.
A full list of the restaurants and their specials is available on the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance’s site. The alliance organizes the annual event.
The Restaurant Week punch card, another innovation from 2022, is returning this year along with the 10-day week.
“Pick up a Restaurant Week punch card at any of the participating restaurants. Order a specialty menu item, or spend $20 on food, and you’ll receive a special stamp on the card,” the alliance explained in a news release. “Collect at least five stamps and take the card, or mail it, to the Economic Alliance (501 First St SE, Cedar Rapids) to be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a Restaurant Week gift basket.”
Cedar Rapids Restaurant Week was launched in 2012 as a way of giving the city’s restaurant scene a boost during late February, typically one of their slowest times of the year, and to encourage people to try new places.
“All selected restaurants completed an application process and were chosen based on specific criteria including being locally owned and operated and a Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance member,” the alliance said in its news release.
