A recent Saturday-night visit to Extraordinary Desserts in Hillcrest reaffirmed my longtime disdain for the place. Service as usual was snotty and abysmally slow, despite the café being only half occupied with customers. The music playing was annoyingly repetitious and more befitting of a dance club. Several un-bussed tables were positioned in messy disarray (bad feng shui). And the restroom cried for aggressive janitorial service, putting customers at risk for walking back out with toilet paper stuck to their heels. The price for enduring these travesties: $25.80, which fed us only two cups of coffee and three desserts, one of them a chocolate croissant the size of a child’s fist.

Wine Smarties and Dussini Mediterranean Bistro will present “The All American Wine Dinner” at 6:30 p.m., June 28, at Dussini, 275 Fifth Ave. The five-course dinner will be paired with wines from obscure vineyards found in (believe it or not) such states as New Mexico, Virginia and New Hampshire. Additionally, some of Miles Grant’s coveted “secret Napa wines” will be introduced. The cost is $65 plus tax and gratuity. Seating is limited and reservations are required. For more information, call 619-955-8884.

North Park’s hotspot for Italian tapas just got bigger. Ken and Janie Cassinelli of Appertivo recently reopened their restaurant after breaking through a wall that separated the eatery from an adjoining second-hand jewelry store that went out of business. The result is an expanded dining room that seats 30 more customers, plus a larger kitchen and an extra restroom. The menu too has grown to include daily fresh pastas, steamed mussels, lamb osso bucco and 40 wines by the glass, some from San Diego County and Temecula.

Celadon owner Alex Thao has replaced his established Thai restaurant on University and Sixth avenues with Chow Noodle House, where a plethora of Asian-style rice-noodle-broth dishes await slurping. The menu also features Kung Pao Chicken, Pad Thai, Stir-Fried Vege-tables and an already-popular French-style entrée called 360-Degree Beef. Thao moved Celadon to 3671 Fifth Ave., into the two-level structure where Region formerly operated. His new noodle house is located at 540 University Ave. Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., daily.

Taste what’s cooking these days in Normal Heights and Kensington during the seventh annual Taste of Adams Avenue, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, June 24. The self-guided culinary tour stretches along Adams Avenue from Utah Street and east to Kensington Drive. Two dozen restaurants are taking part, including Ala Francaise Café & Bakery, the Kensington Grill, Antique Row Café and Luz’s Kitchen, to name a few. The Old Town Trolley will provide free transportation along the route. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the event. For more information, call the Adams Avenue Business Association at 619-282-7329 or visit www.adamsaveonline.com.

Chef Colin MacLaggan will open Avenue 5 Restaurant & Bar at 2760 Fifth Avenue in August. The restaurant’s interior will reflect the menu’s casual, French-inspired sophistication with a mixture of contemporary and classic furnishings and a glass-enclosed kitchen. MacLaggan trained at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in London and worked in the kitchens of Arterra, Mille Fleurs and Bertrand at Mr. A’s. Joining him in the venture is restaurant hospitality guru Nicolas Carbonne, who worked most recently at Tapenade in La Jolla. The menu will focus on fresh, local ingredients along with top-self spirits and an international beer and wine list.

For those on the hunt for alternative breakfast destinations, Dublin Square in the Gaslamp District recently rolled out a morning-fare menu of Irish favorites such as Black-and-White Pudding, bangers and bacon imported from the motherland, traditional fried toast and a meaty Hangover Omelet that includes corned beef and Hollandaise sauce. The menu is offered daily from 7 a.m. to

2 p.m.