A wine festival within the San Diego Pride festival? You heard right. The annual two-day celebration on July 19 and 20 at Marston Point in Balboa Park will feature a first-ever wine-tasting area presented by Wine Steals, featuring more than 90 wineries from the West Coast, France and Italy pouring their latest and greatest releases. Named the “Wine Steals Grotto,” visitors can purchase in advance a “combo pass” for $40 that includes one-day festival admission and a wrist band that’s good for tastings at all of the wine tables within the grotto. The advance passes can be purchased at Wine Steals, located at 1340 University Ave. and 2970 Truxton Road in Liberty Station. For more information, call 619-295-1188.

In an official pre-Pride event, several popular restaurants are providing the edibles for the Greater San Diego Business Association’s annual Pride mixer, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., July 17, at Hawthorn’s Restaurant Lounge in North Park. A portion of the proceeds will provide local youth (ages 15 and 16) free tickets into the festival. Hors d’oeuvres will be presented by Bite, Ono Sushi, Urban Mo’s, Baja Betty’s, Hawthorn’s and British Food Gourmet. Admission is $10 for GSDBA members and $15 for guests, which includes food and the first drink free. For more information, call the GSDBA at 619-296-4543 or visit the Web site at: www.gsdba.org

The store that can lick your pockets clean is teaching us how to spend wisely and hunt for best buys: Whole Foods in Hillcrest and La Jolla is offering “value tours” every Sunday through July, leading consumers through its aisles to point out inventory specials, affordable recipes, how to shop through bulk bins and more. The tours are held weekly at 2 p.m., at the Hillcrest location, 711 University Ave., 619-294-2800, and at 11 a.m. at the La Jolla location, 8825 Villa La Jolla Drive, 858-642-6700.

The Seattle-based chain, formerly called Taco Del Mar, has changed names to Mondo’s Baja Mexican, punching down its prices by nearly 15 percent in the process. Known for their “mondito” and “mondo” burritos, and some of the fiercest hot sauce on the planet, the company has four locations in San Diego County. But despite an effort to improve operations, a lot of tin foil still gets wasted. Even when dining inside, the burritos are rolled in two large sheets of foil, only to get unwrapped and tossed out seconds later. In a recent visit to the Morena Vista Trolley location, I asked the employee making my burrito to skip the wrapping. He replied: “Sorry, we have to do it this way.”

Grass-fed beef burgers made popular by the hip Burger Lounge in La Jolla and Kensington are arriving to the heart of Coronado, as the company opens its third location there later this month at 922 Orange Ave. The menu also features veggie and turkey burgers, house-cut fries, organic salads and decadent milkshakes served within a retro-modern motif.