What sets these events apart from other events of their kind is their casual format and reasonable price tags.

"We're approachable," says San Jose native Rolando Locci, 29, who manages the front of the house while his partner and college buddy from Redwood City, chef Josiah Slone, 26, oversees the kitchen. The pair is celebrating the completion of their first year as partners and owners of a restaurant that Locci says at one time might have been considered somewhat formidable.

"We take our food seriously but don't take ourselves seriously," he smiles. "We want people to come as they are and have a good time—and our food is affordable."

May 12 is the first Wine Masquerade Ball, and chef Slone has created a three-course menu to enhance wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains, beginning with a frisee salad followed by a marinated Hanger steak with wild mushroom ragout, and ending with chocolate chip banana bread pudding. Cost is $40, including tax and tip. The twist is, the customer brings the wine—fully disguised so that fellow guests won't know what label they are drinking. This month, the grape choice is pinot noir. Corkage is free.

Guests vote a "champion" at each table along with a judge who helps to choose the bottle of the night and the best bottle costume. "We hope guests will come in costume, too," Locci says. "We'll have prizes for them as well."

On May 27—the last Thursday of the month—the restaurant holds its fifth wine dinner of the year. "When we first started, I wasn't sure if people would mix well," Locci recalls. He seated singles and couples together at large tables of eight, if they didn't choose otherwise. "They might have started out as strangers, but by the end of the dinner, they were friends."

This time, rather than featuring a single winemaker, Locci and Slone have invited Todd Spainer, billed as the "King of Mushrooms." Each of the five courses features mushrooms that Spainer will introduce and describe. "He's our vendor, and he's a premier mushroom guy," Locci notes. The "mushroom extravaganza" begins with a buffet of truffled pate and truffle-stuffed brie en croute (toast). Subsequent mushroom dishes feature seared scallops and morels with shrimp bearnaise; porcini soup with crème fraiche and shaved porcinis, and hen of the woods and duck confit with onion risotto. Dessert is a candy cap mushroom gelato. "Candy caps are hard to get, but Gelato Massimo will get them for us," Locci says, referring to the Watsonville specialist in exotic Italian ice cream. Price, all inclusive, is $85.

Each course is accompanied by a half-glass of an appropriate wine. "After our first wine dinner we learned you don't pour a full glass each time," Locci adds, with a touch of chagrin, noting that it also was the night—just three weeks after they opened—when a restaurant reviewer chose to visit.

Sent Sovi, located at 14583 Big Basin Way in Saratoga, is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, 5 to 10:30 p.m., and Sunday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Call 408.867.3110 or visit sentsovi.com.