After owning eight restaurants in France and California and then mentally burning out from their operational grinds, John Alonge dreamed up a food and wine business that replaces redundancy with vivacity.

The San Diego Wine & Culinary Center has become a one-stop destination for eating, drinking, cooking classes, wine tasting, grape stomps, live jazz – you name it. Situated in an 8,000-square-foot space across from the San Diego Convention Center, the facility caters also to private and corporate groups for banquets and unique team-building events that involve culinary trivia matches on a Jeopardy-like game board.

“Every day is a new adventure here,” Alonge said while pointing out an additional room he added recently, which can be closed off with a soundproof wall during concurrent events.

A stylish front bar and small retail section flows into open areas scattered with upholstered chairs, café tables and an exhibition kitchen that heats up for cooking demonstrations about three times a month. Or for the regularly scheduled hands-on classes, waist-high tables replete with cook tops are brought out, allowing participants to cook their own meals before carrying them over to nearby seating areas for consumption.

Special events aside, the facility offers a full bar and food menu consisting of salads, cheese boards, paninis and a few dinner entrées that change once a month. And if you come for the wines – many of them from local producers – customers escape the omnipresent corkage fees common in other establishments.

“I can afford to waive the fees because we’re subsidized by our banquet business,” Alonge said, adding that the business will exceed $2 million in sales by the end of this year. The concept of melding all things epicurean under one roof has been so appealing from a business standpoint that it inspired a visiting entrepreneur to open a similar facility in Canandaigua, N.Y., called the New York Wine and Culinary Center.

“There was really no place like this before we opened. We got busy from the day I opened the doors. I’m working harder than I did in the restaurant business, but this is so much more rewarding.”

Alonge recently introduced K9’s-N-Wine every Wednesday night, when urbanite dog owners gather on the front patio to sip and swirl while their pooches enjoy purified water from doggie fountains and snack on complimentary dog treats. Other regular events include live jazz coupled with a wine tasting from 6-9 p.m. every Thursday, and happy hour with musician Jon Sandoval from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Fridays.

At other times in the year, the schedule might include cigar dinners, grape stomps, “Iron Chef” competitions, scotch tastings and even an occasional class on how to make moonshine. “Nothing is too crazy for here,” Alonge said.

The San Diego Wine & Culinary Center is located at 200 Harbor Drive, Suite 120. For a complete schedule of cooking classes and other public activities, call 619-231-6400 or visit www.sdwineculinary.com.