For those whose weekends are packed with things to do and people to see, Herzog Wine Cellars mercifully brings you the Monday night food and wine festival.

Its official name is the International Food & Wine Festival, and its timing — from 7 to 10 p.m. this Monday — is not so much a nod to crunched-for-time weekend warriors as it is a matter of Jewish law: The Oxnard winery, tasting room and on-site restaurant, Tierra Sur, are kosher and therefore closed for the Shabbat, or Sabbath, a daylong observance that begins around sunset every Friday.

So Monday it is for the festival, which will bring together wines and winemakers from Spain, Italy, France and Israel, representing such labels as Capanes, Batasiolo/Rashi, Chateau Pontet Canet and Binyamina. Also present and pouring will be California's own Joe Hurliman, of Herzog Wine Cellars, and Jeff Morgan, whose Covenant-label wines are made under kosher supervision at Herzog.

It may be designed to showcase high-end kosher wines before Passover begins April 20, but the event also will give attendees a chance to sample the genius of Tierra Sur's chef, Todd Aarons, who practices such artisanal techniques as canning and meat curing on the premises.

Aarons plans to present no fewer than seven food "stations" inside the winery, each devoted to a different preparation. At the cold fish bar, for example, attendees will find cold-smoked Arctic char and Kona kampachi with blood orange ceviche and molasses-cured king salmon. The hot fish bar will feature achiote-marinated albacore fish tacos and fennel and black pepper-encrusted seared ahi tuna. House-made sausages will come off the wood-burning grill station, while the dessert station will offer what is described as a "decadent chocolate buffet."

Tickets purchased in advance are $100 per person, or $80 per person when you're buying two or more. For reservations and information about day-of tickets, call 983-1560 or click on http://www.herzogwinecellars.com.

DOWN ON THE FARM: When chef de cuisine Bill Traynor departed for Virginia Beach late last year, Tim Kilcoyne, executive chef and co-owner of The SideCar Restaurant in midtown Ventura, made a bold move: He discontinued weekday lunch service to instead focus his attention on dinner. That decision has paid off with locally sourced menus that change weekly rather than just with the season. And this week, Kilcoyne will kick off a series of farmers dinners, each devoted to a different grower.

First up, on Feb. 20: Phil McGrath of the all-organic McGrath Family Farms in Camarillo. As of this writing, Kilcoyne hadn't decided what to make for each of the four courses. "I usually go out to the farm, walk around and see what looks good," he said.

Kilcoyne, who grew up on a farm in Acton, also has farmers dinners in the works for March 19 (Churchill Orchards), April 16 (Underwood Family Farms) and May 21 (Tomai Family Farms). Reservations for each dinner are $55; wine pairings will be available for an additional $20 per person.

Oh, and lunch? You can still get sandwiches, drinks and ingredients for your own culinary creations from the SideCar's Gourmet-to-Go shop. It's behind the restaurant at 3029 E. Main St., and is open from 11 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Call 653-7433.

MAKING THE MENU: Yolie Cerda isn't just changing the way the restaurant inside Santa Paula's Glen Tavern Inn will look: She's revamping the menu, shifting from the upscale aftertaste left by Avenue X and The Grove in favor of some down-home cookin'. To that end, she and friend and consultant Eric Barragan, who was a partner at The Grove, on Saturday held a get-your-family-recipe-on-the-menu contest at the inn.

More than 20 dishes showed up for judging by a panel that included staff from the inn and the restaurant and members of the Vermont punk band Class Clown, who happened to be passing through town. When the eating was done, the new restaurant had a dessert for its menu: peanut butter pie by Carol Mailloux. Alyce Mills' taco soup and Ruthie Nelson's fruit freighters (tortillas rolled in sugar and cinnamon and filled with yogurt and fresh berries) also proved to be winning combinations. Cerda hopes to have the Iron Horse open, and the above items on the menu, in April.

I'D LIKE TO BUY A VOWEL: Separated by a single letter, the words "urban" and "urbane" mean "citified" and "refined," respectively. For owners of the fast-casual chain Urban Cafe, the difference is worth rebranding now, before they open new sites in Oxnard and Agoura Hills. At existing locations in San Diego and Ventura's Gateway Plaza, cups and menus bear the new Urbane Cafe logo, while the signs outside await the addition of the letter E.

WINE WITH DINNER: Hampton's, the restaurant inside the Four Seasons Westlake Village, will team with Fisher Vineyards of Sonoma County for a winemaker dinner Feb. 21. Prepared by chef de cuisine Jelle Vandenbroucke, the four-course meal will include a pairing of Niman Ranch venison filet with Fisher Coach Insignia cabernets from 1994 and 2004. For reservations, $85, call 818-575-3030.

IN REVIEW: For restaurant critic Rita Moran's thoughts on Cafe Firenze in Moorpark, see Time Out in Thursday's Star.

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