Dennis Sirrine, owner of award-winning Mexican restaurant Rancho de Tia Rosa in northeast Mesa, reports his picturesque establishment’s annual holiday lights display is up and running.

Tia Rosa’s annual display, which requires hundreds of hours to set up, is one of the most extensive among Valley restaurants.

>> Rancho de Tia Rosa, 3129 E. McKellips Road, Mesa, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. (480) 659-8787.

Selections from Kunde Estate Winery in northern California’s Sonoma Valley will be featured at a food-and-wine pairing event Dec. 17 at Romeo’s Euro Cafe, the intimate eatery in downtown Gilbert.

The pairings:

- Grekchino (shredded lamb, carrots, dykon radish, roasted pine nuts filled spring rolls, with a honey balsamic apricot ginger sauce and cilantro lime sauce, pictured at left) with a 2005 Viognier;

- Giacomo Cardin (romaine lettuce brushed with homemade Caesar dressing, topped with grape tomatoes, red and green onions and garlic croutons) with a 2005 Chardonnay;

- Alphonsine Pommery (Cornish game hen over gnocchi with brussels sprouts, hominy, peppered bacon and Indian maiz) with a 2004 Zinfandel;

- A dessert (revealed that evening) with a 2003 Syrah.

The dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. and costs $45, not counting tax and gratuity.

>> Romeo’s Euro Cafe, 207 N. Gilbert Road, Gilbert. (480) 962-4224.

Three friends and I take our seats in the sun-drenched, all-white dining room of Asia de Cuba, the Asian-Cuban fusion restaurant at the ultra-trendy Mondrian hotel in downtown Scottsdale.

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning, and the glass wall between the dining room and patio has been opened, allowing the sights and sounds of ArtFest to drift in from the green grounds of Scottsdale Mall.

The occasion of our visit? The return of Asia de Cuba’s dim sum brunch, offered 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. It’s difficult to imagine a more perfect atmosphere, until …

CRASH!

A ceiling fixture inexplicably falls onto the elegantly set table next to ours, causing everyone to jump. Fortunately, the table is unoccupied and no one is hurt.

Maybe it’s an omen, we joke. Perhaps some unknown spirit is telling us to go elsewhere. Ha, ha.

It doesn’t take long, however, to start thinking the joke is on us.

First off, if you’re looking for the type of dim sum where carts of food are wheeled around for diners to peruse and select, you’ll be disappointed.

Asia de Cuba’s version of dim sum is more along the lines of a tapas bar, where you order small plates from a menu of a dozen items. There’s also a menu of regular brunch dishes.

We start with Sambal chicken lollipops ($9, shown below), four small drumsticks with an orange honey sauce. The Sambal and honey provide a sweet and peppery punch, but it’s marred by the overly doughy breading and fatty chicken.

Similarly, five-spiced pork papas rellenas ($9), four fried potato balls with too-small caches of meat, are only marginally improved by a nice mango barbecue sauce.

Our third selection, a duck quesadilla ($9, shown above) with orange salsa, is better, but our next, shrimp-and-chorizo empanadas ($9), are — surprise — very doughy. And none of us can find or taste any chorizo.

After the arrival of two unimpressive vegetable summer rolls ($8), we decide to give up on the dim sum and shift to the regular brunch menu to satisfy our still-hungry stomachs.

Three slices of cinnamon raisin french toast ($14) are OK, once we scrape away a mound of apple-rum compote. A Belgian waffle ($14) is no better than IHOP’s version.

Cuban Benedict ($15, pictured at right), two poached eggs with bacon-like Serrano ham and a chipotle hollandaise sauce, is perhaps the best dish we try, although, in fairness, the bar has been set pretty low.

I suppose there are plenty of people for whom Asia de Cuba’s cachet is worth ponying up more than $130 for a very average — at best — brunch for four.

Not me. The next time a helpful spirit urges me to leave, I’m listening.

>> Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Scottsdale, 7353 E. Indian School Road, is open 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 6:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. (480) 308-1131.

When Brian Roehrich maxed out his credit cards and mortgaged his house to open Scottsdale’s Dos Gringos in 1996, little did he realize he was launching an East Valley restaurant and nightlife empire.

In the past decade, his subsequent successes include Dos Gringos Trailer Park and Cherry Lounge & Pit in Tempe and Sugar Daddy’s (since sold) and Bada Boom Pasta Room in Scottsdale.

His latest concept is a variation of his original — Dos Gringos Mexigrills, neighborhood hangouts that have sprung up in Mesa, south Tempe and, last month, Chandler.

The mood: Like its siblings and cousins, the Chandler Dos has the casual feel of a Mexican beach cantina. Furniture is primitive — picnic table-like booths in the outer courtyard, four-top tables inside — and painted a variety of bright colors.

The eclectic decor includes humorous signs, strands of lights and numerous photos of patrons having a good time. Rock ’n’ roll music blares from a series of speakers.

The food: Many of Dos’ entrees are around $10, but there are options for the budget-conscious. A Mexican lunch buffet on weekdays costs $6.99. There also are daily lunch specials for $5.99; on this Friday, it’s tilapia with mango salsa, rice and beans.

I order the Chicken Diablo sandwich ($6.50), which, like all Dos sandwiches, comes on pita bread. It’s filled with a heaping helping of grilled chicken, jack cheese, lettuce and creamy “diablo sauce,” which isn’t spicy despite the name. Mexican rice and pico de gallo come on the side.

My dining companion gets the Gringo Rolls ($6.99), which have chicken, black bean hummus and jack cheese rolled up in flour tortillas and topped with pico and sour cream. Although listed as an appetizer, it makes a filling lunch.

The drinks: Our Diet Cokes are $2 apiece.

The damage: $17.49. For a no-frills place where the focus seems to be on the cheap beer (Dos claims to be the No. 1 seller of Corona in the country), the food is tastier than we expect. It’s no wonder these Mexigrills are popping up all over the East Valley.

>> Dos Gringos Mexigrill, 1361 N. Alma School Road, Chandler, is open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. (480) 855-3303.

How starved are Gilbert residents for restaurants? Look no further than the month-old Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant at SanTan Village for an answer.

Would you believe a 30-minute wait on a Monday night? How about up to 90 minutes on weekends?

Mind you, this isn’t Pizzeria Bianco, where long waits are routine but pay off with what one New York Times food writer called “maybe the best pizza in America.”

This is Gordon Biersch, the Tennessee-based chain — it also has restaurants in Tempe and Scottsdale — better known for its handcrafted lagers than its New American menu.

Part of the reason for the wait is the confusion at the door. After putting in our name at the hostess stand, we’re told that “the wait is about 20 minutes, but we have open seating so if you see an available table you can grab it.”

Huh? I assume she means only the packed bar area, which takes up about one-third of the large space. But a steady stream of new arrivals ends up wandering through the dining area, looking confused and unsure.

We decide to play it safe and wait for our name to be called, and after about 30 minutes we’re seated in a section where four other booths are empty, despite the line at the door.

The restaurant’s acoustics seem to amplify the crowd noise. It’s so loud we can barely hear each other at our table (a matter not helped by the screaming baby in the booth behind us).

We decide to start with the chef’s sampler ($14.95, pictured to the left), a trio of chicken appetizers. Southwest egg rolls are crunchy and delicious, while shrimp-and-chicken potstickers are so-so. A big disappointment, though, are the glazed chicken wings, which are stone-cold.

Steak medallions and crab-stuffed shrimp ($22.95), one of the house specialities, is another mixed bag. The aged beef is tender and tasty, but the crab stuffing has a very “fishy” taste. Gorgonzola potato wedges look and taste like plain potato wedges.

Sweet and spicy cashew Asian stir fry ($14.95), another house speciality, is a large bowl of chicken and vegetables in a thin sauce that’s neither sweet nor spicy. If there’s a difference between “jasmine rice” and plain white rice, I don’t taste it.

Our final entree, goat cheese ravioli topped with spinach, mushrooms and pine nuts ($15.50, shown at right), is bland and dry despite the menu’s mention of a brown butter sauce. Even our dessert, chocolate peanut butter pie with an Oreo crust ($6.25), is curiously lacking in flavor.

The good news for Gilbert residents is more restaurants are coming soon to SanTan Village, including the Keg Steakhouse, Kona Grill and Brio Tuscan Grille.

Until then, they’ll have to continue to watch their wait.

>> Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, 2218 E. Williams Field Road, Gilbert, is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. (480) 722-0883.

California Pizza Kitchen opens its fourth East Valley location today at Mesa’s Dana Park Village Square.

The restaurant, on the northwest corner of Val Vista Drive and Baseline Road, offers a menu of hearth-baked pizzas, including what it calls “the original BBQ Chicken Pizza.”

Also on the menu are salads, sandwiches and pastas.

CPK, which was started in 1985 by lawyers Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax, has more than 200 locations in 27 states and seven foreign countries.

Other East Valley CPKs are located in Chandler, Tempe and Scottsdale.

>> California Pizza Kitchen, 1850 S. Val Vista Drive, Mesa, is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. (480) 558-7505.

Bust open that piggy bank! Atomic 29 Grill, a month-old restaurant on the northwest corner of Baseline and Gilbert roads in Mesa, is offering 29-cent baby-back rib dinners from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29.

The offer, which includes a choice of three barbecue sauce and two sides, is good while supplies last and is restricted to dine-in customers only.

“We think our ribs are the best in the Valley, and we want to be able to offer everyone a special incentive to come out and try them,” says restaurant co-owner Mark Voss.

A half-rack of baby-back ribs and two sides normally sells for $15.99.

Atomic 29 plans to offer specials on the 29th of every month, and will host a “Leap Year Party” on Feb. 29, 2008.

>> Atomic 29 Grill, 1910 S. Gilbert Road, Mesa, (480) 503-0029.

Sushi Eye, the popular south Tempe sushi bar and restaurant, opens a sister location today in downtown Chandler.

Sushi Eye in Motion, a block south of Chandler Boulevard and a block west of Arizona Avenue, features Arizona’s first sushi belt, which moves a constant array of sushi rolls and menu selections around the sushi bar.

Customers can pick up any dish from the moving belt, or order from the menu.

Dishes on the belt are digitally tracked through bar codes to ensure freshness, according to Sushi Eye owner Paul Cho.

>> Sushi Eye in Motion, 58 W. Buffalo St., Chandler, is open 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday (lunch) and 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday (dinner). (480) 686-8183.

Mark Schnepf stands in the roadside shack where his family sold vegetables in the 1960s and shakes his head at the steady stream of vehicles on Rittenhouse Road.

“This is now the main road to Johnson Ranch and all the development down there,” he says. “Well, at least it’s bringing a lot more people to the farm.”

Schnepf Farms, a 300-acre parcel in Queen Creek, has been worked by three generations of the Schnepf family. As waves of new homes have washed away neighboring farms, Schnepf’s operation has evolved to survive.

The farm still grows vegetables — including broccoli, cauliflower, beets, corn, turnips and sweet peas — and has Arizona’s largest peach orchard.

Since the early ’90s, however, Mark and his wife, Carrie, have supplemented the farm’s income by hosting seasonal festivals that draw as many as 18,000 people a day, as well as outdoor concerts, haunted houses, wedding receptions and educational tours.

Visitors will find a small railroad, an amusement park, a petting zoo, the state’s oldest still-running carousel, several historic buildings, a small museum and, most recently, the addition of a resident deer herd.

And today, the Schnepfs launch their latest attraction: A full-service restaurant called Fresh From the Farm, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner Wednesdays through Sundays.

The restaurant takes over the historic vegetable stand, which had been used in recent years as a country store and bakery. Nate Brown, a banquet cook at The Phoenician resort, has been hired to oversee the kitchen.

The menu, which Carrie Schnepf describes as “good, old-fashioned home cooking,” includes family-recipe comfort foods such as meatloaf (pictured at right), chicken pot pie, biscuits and gravy and, of course, lots of fresh vegetables.

Prices haven’t been finalized, but the most expensive entrée will be less than $20, she says.

Inspiration for the restaurant came from the Schnepfs’ annual trips to the French countryside.

“We wanted to re-create some of that French country feel,” says Mark Schnepf. “Not with the cuisine, but with the décor.”

Rustic chairs and tables with bright country-motif tableclothes provide indoor seating for about 40 people. A small patio can hold another 30. Beyond that, there’s 300 acres for more outdoor tables if the demand is there.

“We’re already a seasonal venue,” he says. “We want to create reasons for people to come year-round.

“We want to create a special place.”

>> Fresh From the Farm, 24810 S. Rittenhouse Road, Queen Creek, is open 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. (480) 987-3100.

Much like the models expected to grace the S-shaped runway that carves through its dining room, Canal looks very nice. The question for diners: Is Canal more than just a pretty face?

The fashion-themed restaurant opened last month on the second floor of developer Fred Unger’s SouthBridge complex on the south bank of the Arizona Canal, just across from Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Decorated in rich tones of red, gold and brown, Canal’s interior serves up a feast for the eyes. Thirty feet of high-definition screens run along one wall, parallel to the illuminated runway, flashing images of the latest styles to the beat of high-energy music.

Sheer curtains and dim lighting contribute to the intimacy of circular booths and gracefully set tables. A wall of floor-to-ceiling glass windows looks out on a waterfront patio still under construction.

Executive chef Justin Beckett’s menu of “globally inspired cuisine” already has raised eyebrows, thanks to a well-publicized $30 lobster tail sandwich. The rest of the sandwiches, though, cost half that, and almost all dinner entrees are under $30.

For starters, we order the roasted meatballs ($10), which come three to a plate with a mushroom gravy and arugula and fennel salad, and sweet corn cakes ($11), two fair-sized patties with avocado salad, arugula, cotija cheese and a red pepper puree. The meatballs, a special on this night, are a little bland, but the corn cakes are delicious. I only wish they weren’t so stingy with the zesty puree.

Moving on to entrees, a petite filet mignon ($32, shown above) is perfectly cooked but, like the meatballs, fails to excite. One of my dining companions even remarks, “What I wouldn’t give for a bottle of A1.” Compounding the problem, the steak’s thin sauce thoroughly soaks half of the accompanying Parmesan fries, making a soggy mess.

Five macadamia nut-crusted ocean prawns ($27) are average-tasting, but come with a wonderful jicama mint slaw that’s sweet and cool at first taste but has a layer of heat underneath. Even a grilled chicken sandwich ($16) with bacon, mustard aoili and butter lettuce is run of the mill — not bad, just nothing memorable.

Almost saving the day all on its own, though, is an apple Wellington dessert pastry ($9, pictured left) topped with a scoop of Haagen-Dazs pistachio ice cream.

Any fan of TV’s popular “Project Runway” knows the competing fashion designers are encouraged to push the boundaries of style. Playing it too safe is a sure way to get sent home.

In much the same way, Canal’s menu displays flashes of creativity, but too often lapses into the uninspired. Until the restaurant finds a way to “make it work,” I’ll just be tuning in for dessert.

>> Canal, 7144 E. Stetson Drive, Scottsdale, is open 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. (480) 949-9000.