Monique’s Has a New, International Anthem

Guy Sockrider, Monique’s chef/manager, will inaugurate monthly International Night multicourse dinners with a Russian accent on Wednesday. Dinner will begin with blini with three different fresh caviars and sour cream. The soup? Borscht, of course. Entree choices will be coulibiac of salmon (salmon and rice wrapped with spinach and baked in a puff pastry, served with lemon butter sauce) and breast of pheasant with pink berries and sour cream. Dessert: chestnut croquembouche (cream puffs with chestnut cream and an egg cream sauce). The price is $28 per person, excluding tax, gratuity and wine. Subsequent international dinners will include Burgundy Night in February and Mardi Gras Night in March. Reservations: (714) 499-5359. 31727 Coast Highway, Laguna Beach.

January activities at the Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center include two wine seminars, with cheese and fruit reception and tastings of six to eight wines. This Tuesday, the center will pour reserve barrel samples of the 1991 Mondavi vintage, along with its most recent releases. Then, on Jan. 21, participants will explore the basic components of wine: acid, natural sugar, tannin and oak. They’ll learn how their various levels influence the taste and aroma of wine. Both seminars are from 7 to 9 p.m., and each costs $20 per person. In addition, at the center on Jan. 16 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., a cooking class with Indian chef Tarun Kapoor will demonstrate vegetarian meals. Kapoor currently teaches in the restaurant and hospitality program at Cal Poly Pomona. The cost: $48. The Center is at 1570 Scenic Ave., Costa Mesa. (714) 070-4510.

Summit House, the English country restaurant in Fullerton, is now open for lunch, serving from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. Look for fish and chips, mesquite rotisserie turkey, broiled swordfish and an array of salads and sandwiches, priced from $7.95 to $12.95. (714) 671-4111. 2000 Bastanchury Road.