A falafel wrap does not a Passover dinner make. But if you're a Jewish college student who's trying to keep kosher and can't get home for the holidays, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

In fact, the falafel wrap (with a salad of mixed baby greens) is just one of the certified-kosher items newly available at the Islands Cafe on campus at CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo. Also delivered to the cafeteria-style eatery several times a week are kosher peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, spicy salmon pitas and a vegetarian curry bean salad, the latter made with garbanzo and black beans. Prices range from $4.99 to $7.99.

Prepared and packaged by High Noon Foods, a division of BRG Inc. in Van Nuys, the items bear "kosher" stickers. In smaller print, some are designated "kosher parve," meaning that they are not supposed to contain, and have not come in contact with, combined meat and dairy products. Others are marked "kosher dairy," an indication that any milk or milk-based ingredients were used in accordance with Jewish dietary laws.

Keeping kosher is one of many ways to connect with God, said Rabbi Ariel Rav-Noy, co-director of the Chabad Jewish Student Center at CSUCI. It was Rav-Noy who approached Islands Cafe management (the eatery is operated by food service giant Sodexho) about adding kosher foods to its existing menu of Hawaiian pizzas, Santa Maria-style tri-tip and seafood Creole with dirty rice and corn bread. A kosher food tasting was presented in the cafeteria late last month and apparently was such a hit with students that the items were granted shelf space in a refrigerated case near the cashiers.

Located off the south quad, Islands Cafe is open daily. Passover starts at sundown April 19.

LOCALS ONLY: To the list of wine dinners and beer dinners, add something called the limoncello dinner. Traditionally served icy cold as an after-meal drink in Italy, the tangy-sweet lemon liqueur will be the focus of an April 24 event at C-Street Restaurant in the Crowne Plaza Hotel overlooking the beachfront Ventura Promenade.

The star ingredient is Ventura Limoncello Originale, fresh from winning a gold medal at the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It is made by Ventura residents James Carling and Manuela Zaretti-Carling using citrus grown by Petty Ranch in Ventura. Showcasing it not just in drinks but dishes will be C-Street chef Nic Manocchio, who plans to start things off with Ventura Limoncello mimosas and salads of baby arugula, blood oranges from Timber Canyon Ranch, shaved Maui onions, crispy goat cheese and Ventura Limoncello vinaigrette. Also on the four-course menu will be lemon sorbet with a float of mint-infused Ventura Limoncello and a dessert of Ventura Limoncello and Ojai lavender creme brulée. For reservations, $42, call 648-2100.

Produce grown by Underwood Family Farms in Somis and Moorpark will star in not one but two farm dinners this month. At 7 p.m. Monday, chef Todd Aarons of Tierra Sur at Herzog Wine Cellars in Oxnard kicks off his spring series with farmer Craig Underwood and a four-course meal that includes wine. Reservations, $75: 983-1560.

Underwood also will visit The SideCar Restaurant in midtown Ventura for a four-course dinner prepared by chef and co-owner Tim Kilcoyne at 6:30 p.m. April 16. Reservations, $55 or $75 with paired wines: 653-7433.

THOUSAND OAKS TURNOVER: So long, Louise's Trattoria, hello Vivoli Café & Trattoria. Part of a chain that has sites in Hollywood and Santa Monica, Louise's opened a few doors down from the Trader Joe's in the North Ranch Mall in May 2005. But as of last week, a liquor license notice for Vivoli — an Italian eatery that has locations in West Hollywood and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico — was taped to the front door. Inside, workers toiled amid what smelled like a painting and wood-staining festival. For a sneak peek at Vivoli's menu, visit the Web site at http://www.vivolicafe.com.

Also under construction in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood that likes to refer to itself as Westlake Village: Grill on the Alley. Joining a list of sites that includes Beverly Hills and San Jose, the newest Grill is coming right along in the Promenade at Westlake space that formerly housed Hallmark Creations. The Hallmark store has moved next door; The Grill, which specializes in "classic American grill fare," is indeed on an alley of sorts, formed by the narrow parking lot next to Bristol Farms.

CLASS ACTS: Learn how to make spring rolls, cashew nut chicken and other delicacies during the Thai Cuisine for Beginners class to be taught by Natchanok Corriveau from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Ventura College. Required reservations, $49, include a $15 food and beverage fee: 654-6459 or http://www.communityed.venturacollege.edu.

The barbecue workshop and cooking demonstration? It's free. But since it takes place at Stuart's Barbecue & Fireplace Design Center, 1700 E. Ventura Blvd., Suite D, Oxnard, organizers may be counting on a certain number of students falling in love with some of the on-display merchandise.

The first workshop is slated for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, with repeats at 10:30 a.m. May 17 and June 7 and 5:30 p.m. June 19. Call 485-0535.

So many ingredient possibilities, so little time? Personal chef and dietitian Lisa Scott helps winnow things down in her Cooking with Trader Joe's classes, offered at 6 p.m. Tuesday and April 29 at Redwood Middle School in Thousand Oaks. Register ($50 per class) through Conejo Valley Adult School at http://www.conejo.tec.ca.us.

WINNING COMBINATION: After working in retail and as a corporate interior designer for a furniture company in the Bay Area, former Venturan Shawn Walker-Smith decided it was time to get serious about two lifelong loves: cooking and baking. So the 1982 Ventura High School grad entered, and placed in, the Panier de Marche Patisserie Scholarship Competition presented by the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Walker-Smith, 43, won second place and a $1,000 scholarship with his variation on Chocolate Budino, a fallen-souffle dish he discovered in the pages of "Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate" by Alice Medrich, whom he described as "my guru." Walker-Smith, who lives in Oakland with husband Robert Walker-Smith and their children, will start attending CCA this month and hopes to one day open a restaurant, he said, "where desserts are king."

IN REVIEW: For restaurant critic Rita Moran's thoughts on Seagrass in Santa Barbara, see Time Out in Thursday's Star.

— E-mail Lisa McKinnon at lmckinnon@VenturaCountyStar.com.