The Cincinnati International Wine Festival (www.winefestival.com) kicks off March 23 for two days of tastings and related wine fun. Grand Tastings will be held on Friday and Saturday at the Duke Energy Center (the convention center) downtown. The event features more than 600 wines from 130 wineries, live music, food and a silent auction. This year several area restaurants will also be offering Winery Dinners on March 22, including Pho Paris, One, Orchids at the Palm Court, Daveed's at 934, Embers and Jean-Robert at Pigall's. ...

Dilly Deli will give those overdosed wine palates a break on April 26 when it hosts a beer event with Matt Webster from Delaware's Dogfish Head Brewery. ...

C'est Bon, a gourmet carryout shop downtown quietly closed shop recently, but the gourmet-to-go trend seems to be flourishing. A Forkable Feast (Good Eats To Go) is scheduled to open in Oakley this spring and Dream Dinners opened a new location in Anderson Township last month -- they provide customers ingredients and a place to assemble entrées to take home and finish preparing. If that still seems like too much work, Aunty's Homemade Food at Findlay Market offers gourmet, all-natural frozen entrées that are ready to take home, heat and eat. ...

Other openings in town include The Fresh Market, which adds a second Cincinnati location in Sycamore Plaza in Kenwood this month, and Rima's Diner, which opened its second home-style restaurant Covington. ...

Kun Ying reopened in January after some renovation, but the biggest changes are still to come. This month the name will change to Thai Dye Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge and the restaurant will transform its bar area into a retro-style '60s and '70s lounge. The grand opening for the bar is March 23, but the restaurant is open and serving food, including a new lunch buffet with Thai and vegetarian options for $7.95. ...

Betta's Italian Oven also will be expanding this spring with more dining space and an Italian-style coffee bar. They'll be adding a few more homemade desserts to go with that coffee as well. ...

Take the Cake moved from its longtime home in Over-the-Rhine to Northside this month. Along with supplying local businesses such as their neighbors Melt and Sidewinder with baked goods, owners Melissa Mileto and Doug Faulkner hope to build up the retail side of their business with the move. The bakery will be using the same recipes (and phone number); they'll just have more to offer their walk-in customers in the way of cookies, brownies, scones, cupcakes and, of course, their specialty-order cake selection.