See what's cooking for Halloween at these Milwaukee restaurants

Looking for some Halloween fun? But it has to include delicious food? Here are some options:

Lazy Susan

The Bay View restaurant's Halloween celebration this year is a feast of small plates from Eastern Europe, Haiti, Mexico and New Orleans. The Oct. 29 event includes paired cocktails, a roving magic act and tarot readings.

The menu is naturally gluten free, and zero-proof cocktails are available. Costumes are encouraged, but not required.

Some of the 15 plates on the menu: Romanian grilled sausages, Belarus potato pancakes, Haitian stewed chicken, grilled plantains, duck confit tamal with pumpkin mole, etouffee with shrimp over cauliflower rice, and caramel apple cheesecake.The dinner also is a fundraiser for the remodeling of the Bay View Community Center, which offers a food pantry and educational programs. Fifty dollars of the $150-a-seat dinner will benefit the center. That cost is all inclusive - drinks, tax and tip.

Reservations required; call (414) 988-7086. Lazy Susan is at 2378 S. Howell Ave.

Voyager wine and cocktails

Voyager, the wine and cocktail bar and bottle shop in Bay View, will hold its first pop-up dinner by visiting chefs on Oct. 30. The dinner is called Gatto/Nero (black cat).

Samantha Sandrin and Katie Gabert of Strega, the handmade pasta and dessert shop previously at 3rd Street Market Hall, and Alexis Burgos, a young chef originally from Buenos Aires, will prepare eight courses of modern dishes (plus extra bites) with flavors from northern Italy and Argentina.

One course, called "Specter at the Feast," as an example: dry-aged ribeye with chimichurri, potato and black garlic aioli; the wine planned for it is Paolo Bea's San Valentino sagrantino from 2014.

Jordan Burich, the owner of Voyager (which specializes in wine made with minimal intervention), said the dinner "will be festive in the Halloween sense of things ... lots of tricks and treats."

Tickets are $175 a person for the dinner, which includes wine pairings. Buy them in advance at Voyager, 422 E. Lincoln Ave. (open daily at 2 p.m.) or at voyagermke.com.

Shanghai speakeasy

This hidden east side bar connected to Crossroads Collective food hall is turning into Shanghai Spook-easy on Sunday, when chef Ramses Alvarez of Dia Bom prepares a seven-course tasting-menu dinner.

Shanghai’s Kat Doughty will pair cocktails to courses, and diners can gather an hour ahead of the 6 p.m. dinner for a glass of cava at Crossroad’s Pharmacy Bar.

One course is butternut squash soup with fried spaghetti squash, pickled enoki and chive oil. The pairing is mezcal and tequila with alchermes, orange, demerara syrup and fire cinnamon.

Reserve and pay for a seat by 8 p.m. Saturday. Dinner is $175 a person, with virtual tickets at crossroadscollectivemke.com.

To reach Shanghai, enter Black Cat Alley from East Ivanhoe Place, off North and Farwell avenues. Ring the buzzer at the metal gate behind Crossroads Collective’s building to enter.

Aperitivo

This handsome cafe-bar-and-bites spot in the Pritzlaff Building, at the edge of downtown and the Third Ward, is throwing a Halloween costume party from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 29.

Paul Cebar will be spinning vinyl records during the party. Admission is $10, which includes all the bites.

You'll want to put some thought into your costume: First place gets a $100 gift card, and second place wins a $50 gift card.

Aperitvo is at 311 N. Plankinton Ave., just south of St. Paul Avenue.

Brunch with Milwaukee drag queens is planned from noon to 2 p.m. Oct. 29 at Tre Rivali in the Kimpton Journeyman Hotel, 200 N. Broadway. Festive cocktails are said to be in the mix.

Pizza at Wy'east and Ian's

You might call them scary, or hot as Hades, depending on your point of view.

An October special at Wy'east Pizza, 5601 W. Vliet St., is the Diablo Picante. The pizza ($23) is topped with chorizo, candied jalapeno, mozzarella and pecorino cheese over tomato-chipotle sauce. An optional topping: roasted crickets ($1).

The pizza is available at least another two weeks, possibly four weeks. Crickets are while supplies last. Wy'east is open Wednesdays to Sundays for order-ahead takeout and dining in. To contact: (414) 943-3278.

At Ian's three Milwaukee locations, the special slice through Nov. 1 (or while supplies last) is the Turkey Roast Ghost: turkey, bacon, avocado cream, ghost pepper cheese chunks, mozzarella and tomato.

Ian's is at 2035 E. North Ave., 5300 W. Blue Mound Road and 146 E. Juneau Ave. Stop in or call to order; it's $5 a slice, or about $21 for a 12-inch pizza, $28 for a 16-inch, $35 for a 20-inch pie.

Drag brunch at Tre Rivali

Tre Rivali restaurant, in the Kimpton Journeyman Hotel at 200 N. Broadway in the Third Ward, is having a Halloween drag brunch from noon to 2 p.m. Oct. 29.

The restaurant is planning festive cocktails and a lineup of local performers: Amethyst Von Trollenburg, Dora Diamond, Lux and Iconica Strange.

Tre Rivali recommends reservations; make them online here.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: See what's cooking for Halloween at these Milwaukee restaurants