Take “Cheers”, substitute LA for Boston, wine for beer, a bright cool open space for a dark basement bar AND Silverlake hipsters for blue collar Bostonians. Then add a new twist on Sunday Brunch– 4 small plate courses of food from some of LA’s up and coming chefs with matching wines from some of the best boutique wineries, all for 20 bucks. What do you get? Silverlake Wine, where everyone DOES know your name. Sound interesting? Plan on heading over to Silverlake by 3pm on most Sundays to join owners Randy, April and George (formerly the wine director of Campanille) for their Sunday Afternoon Tasting. Once you walk in, head to the bar to pick up your starter, a sparkling wine based on the region highlighted for that day. Then be prepared to be educated on the region, type, and background of the remaining 4 wines you will try that afternoon. Often the wine maker is there to offer tidbits of information to those curious wine enthusiasts in the room.

More often than not, the food served at wine tastings is an afterthought. Not here- they have strong relationships with the chefs at a number of the best new restaurants in town. The courses, from chefs like DJ Olsen of Lou’s Wine Bar and Don Dickman of barbrix, compliment the wines being tried that day. If you get lucky, you might even manage to get there when the First Assembly Baptist Church showcases their famous barbecue!

Sunday Tasting is a wonderfully casual way to unearth new wines and test-try some restaurants to keep in your arsenal. Everyone who works there is passionate about wine. And especially passionate about making it accessible to those of us new to exploring this world. They pride themselves on getting to know their clients and delighting them with some unique and interesting choices based on their palates and price points. You can’t go wrong with any of their suggestions – these guys not only sell wine, some (Matthew) are even starting their own labels. Silverlake Wine is located at 2395 Glendale Blvd.

Getwize: Make reservations! The Sunday Tastings have limited space and fill up quickly. If you can't make it on Sunday, try their Monday tastings with cheese ($12) from Silverlake Cheese Shop or their extremely popular Thursday Tastings (be prepared to squeeze past Silverlake hipsters to the bar) with the Let’s Be Frank truck parked out in front. In addition, they serve wines by the glass after 5pm on all nights they don’t have a tasting.