Long known for its inexpensive rotisserie chickens, the quasi-gourmet Olive Tree Market in Ocean Beach is hiking the price per bird to $5.99 this month, a buck more than what it has charged for the past eight years. Still a bargain compared to the major grocery stores in town, the two-and-a-half pound birds are rubbed with paprika, oregano and other spices and sold from a quaint deli counter that features some decent sandwiches and assorted salads. The store’s wine selection, stocked with California and European labels, is also worth a look.

The much-anticipated Wine Steals II opened last week in Point Loma’s historic Liberty Station. Located just inside the complex’s Lytton Street gate, across the street from The Hole, the multi-windowed wine bar is positioned at the lip of Sail Ho Golf Course and offers an outdoor patio, a fireplace lounge and a “fine wine room.” And like the popular Hillcrest location, customers can shop from a retail inventory or loll over cheeseboards, gourmet salads and a lengthy selection of creative pizzas baked on site.

The new, chic, Sofia Hotel on West Broadway downtown is making way for an American-style brasserie in early July. The eatery, named Currant, will be operated by chef Jonathan Pflueger, who hails from Montage Resort and Spa in Laguna Beach and Manhattan’s Russian Tea Room. The menu will feature “seasonal, elevated comfort foods presented with a twist,” said Pflueger, who promises such dishes as caramelized corn and sweet-onion waffle with house-smoked salmon, and duck confit with baby lentils and currant marmalade – all at “affordable bistro prices.” Visitors can also expect a “vintage-elegance” atmosphere with hand-beaded chairs from France and bi-fold doors that open to a patio.

Whole Foods in Hillcrest officially completed a redesign this week that lures shoppers with various food stations such as a taqueria with south-of-the-border delicacies, a trattoria for pizzas and the Bamboo Asian Express, offering Szechwan shrimp, Chinese eggplant, Mongolian beef and more. The expanded prepared-foods section absorbs interior space formerly occupied by Jamba Juice. Food demos and samplings will take place in the store’s new reconfigured area from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, May 19.

Gone are the fresh turkey subs and other fine sandwiches at Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop at University and Sixth, which recently closed due to lagging sales. The shop was the only location in San Diego County under the Delaware-based Capriotti’s franchise. If the universe is kind, it will spare the neighborhood another Mexican, Thai or sushi joint and clear a path for an applying business called Yog-Art, specializing in Korean-style yogurt (firmer and icier than western-style yogurt), with a choice of fresh fruit toppings.

Darren Palmer, owner of Pet Me Please in Normal Heights, says he’s selling organic brands of dog and cat food faster than he can stock them, in the face of a troubling pet-food recall that continues to sweep the nation. Playing it safe, he’s steering his customers to organic products and other pet foods made by smaller, independent companies. Some products he carries include Fromm, Family, and Ziwi Peak, a pure-meat product from New Zealand with no contamination issues. “The recall list keeps on growing. Pet owners still need advice as to what they should be looking for in commercial, non-organic foods they might buy, as well as the organic products,” Palmer notes.