One of our favorite yearly routines is the taste of la jolla. The event benefits our high school— but what’s even better than that, is we get a chance to sample food from our local restaurants, new, old, and inbetween. We get to see what restaurants we want to try out, and what restaurants have changed up their menus and need a revisit.

One of our fav stops has always been cherry wine. It’s a burmese restuarant, owened and operated by a family from burma, who love sharing all of the food they grew up eating. What’s cool about burmese cuisines is that when burma was occupied by japan, sushi was introduced to the culture… so you get a really great swath of asian flavors across the board. But I digress…

We finally, finally able to sit down at cherry wine and delve into the entire menu, and not just the random samples we’ve tried before. We decided upon a smattering of both traditional burmese food and sushi… the best of both worlds, if you will.

Cherry wine has a whole list of different mimosa and bellini options. So many great choices, it was hard to narrow it down… but your girl did. I went with the passion fruit. And, I highly recommed you do too. It was delish.

Blue moon is always a good staple, and it was nice to see it on the menu.

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. You guys! I’ve been sleeping on tea leaf salad (and yes, I’m now researching to make my own). It a simple mix of cabbage, tomatoes, fermented tea leaves (almost like kimchi), peanuts, crispy legumes, jalepenos, all tossed in a dressing that was reminiscent of a nouc cham. So simple, yet the flavor combination was anything but.

It was delicious.

Apparently, tea leaf salad used to be an at home casual, almost palate cleansing snack for the burmese people. And then anthony bourdain happened. Because of course he did. The first episode of parts unknown found anthony in myanmar trying the tea leaf salad. Which obviously he loved. And played a huge part in making it one of the most recognized and favorite burmese dishes here in america. Kinda love this bit of food history.

Almost as much as I love the salad itself.

Seriously I could just eat this over and over again.

We tried the mixed vegetble tempura app. Because it’s what avy always orders anywhere she can… and you know, we gotta check it out for her. Research, if you will.

Seriously though, I also love vegetable tempura especially when the vegetables are not typical. We got a great variety of broccoli, carrots, sweet potato, onion, squash, etc.

It was served with a soy ponzu and a sweet and sour sauce to dip. Both were excellent.

The tempura batter was light, not overly greasy, and perfectly crunchy. The vegetables were perfectly cooked, a little bite, no mush, and not raw.

Cheers. Great classic brut. Perfect pairing for the entrees.

Coconut soup is another bermese mainstay dish. Y’all know coconut is not my jam, unless it’s understated and done well. I’m happy to report that this coconut was understated, and done well. The broth was creamy, buttery, a hint of coconut, with a hit of spice on the backend of each bite. Full of shrimp, tofu, perfectly cooked noodles, and topped with red onions, scallions, crispy bits, and packed full of flavor.

The shrimp was perfectly cooked, not rubbery at all. Same with the tofu, it was crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside.

This dish is a winner. I can see why it’s such a huge hit. It screams of sitting by the fire in pj’s with a hot toddy and a spoon.

I could also just drink a big mug of the broth. Or you know, slurp up the dregs of the bowl itself.

This was a fantastic roll. I love the combo of a deconstructed shrimp tempura roll with spicy tuna.

Fantastic flavor combination.

The fish was fresh, the avocado creamy and bright, the cucumber crispy and the masago popped. Everything you want in a bite of sushi.

I loved, loved this take on a rainbow roll. The inclusion of spicy tuna, instead of crab or shrimp tempura, is dare I say genius? Or maybe that’s because I’m a sucker for spicy tuna. Whatever the reason… this spin works. And works well.

Once again, the fish was exceptionally fresh. As were the cucumber and avocado. And lets just take a moment to mention that the rice texture was perfect. Not soggy, and definitely not tough.

These two rolls set a high standard, and I’m looking foward to trying some of the others on our next visit.

And there will definitely be a next visit. No more samples for us. We want the whole menu.