Cocosala

So we found this new restaurant, Cocosala. They call it a chocolate lounge and boutique. It has a bunch of appetizer bites and then a selection of 5 course desserts! We obviously needed to go there. So I made plans to go down for the weekend even though I'd been there not that long ago.

We made a reservation for 8:30 on Saturday. We showed up at 8:20 and were promptly seated. The place was very modern/trendy. Most of the tables were full, at least on the side where we were but there were 2 sides divided by the bar and I couldn't really see the other side.

Since I realized I forgot to check out the bathroom at Kinkead's, this was my first mission when we got to Cocosala. The bathroom was a single bathroom, with a toilet and sink, not stalls. I don't know if there was another one or if it was just one for the restaurant. They maintained the modern feel of the restaurant. They had a glass top on the sink that was a smooth surface down to the drain. I like that. They had standard aluminum toilet seat covers and paper towel dispenser took away from the modern feel. And the door was weird. Fortunately I was just washing my hands because I wasn't really sure if I had locked the door. Also, the door was open when I got back there. I'm not sure I would have identified it as the bathroom if it had not been. I left the door open when I left because that's how it was when I got there and I wasn't really sure what was appropriate etiquette.

So our waitress came to our table. She recommended 2-3 of the Cocobites (the appetizer type things) each and share a 5 course dessert so that's what we decided to do. This is what we got:

Shrimp mac 'n cheese - mini penne, jack and cheddar, garlic, shrimp, jalapenos - It came in a little square bowl with a shrimp wrapped in fried noodles on a skewer. The skewer was crisp and a nice alternative to standard breading. The mac 'n cheese had a real rich creamy sauce, no shortage of cheese there, that had a pretty good kick from the jalapenos

Crispy louisiana crabcake - mango salsa, chipotle chocolate tomato glaze, avocado cilantro emulsion - This thing was delicious. One of the best crab cakes I have ever had. Lots of crab but a nice fine bread crumb on the outside that was perfectly fried. The sauce was sweet and tangy and went perfectly with the crab cake.

Spicy moroccan swordfish slider - fennel salad, aged pecorino, hazelnut coffee dressing. The slider was OK, though a bit too much bun, relative to the filling. The swordfish had a pretty strong flavor, like swordfish usually does, but it was a bit overwhelming.

Maine lobster salad - lemon aioli, cucumber, crushed avocado, greens, corn bread, passion chocolate vinaigrette. Flavorwise this was good. The way it was put together was a bit difficult. They had the real thin cucumber slices like pressed on the outside so the only way to eat it was to knock down the cucumber, hope it didn't fall off the plate and load it up.

Overall, the appetizers were very good, though rather sweet.


And for the dessert: xocolayl, Aztec experience

Amuse - churros with cinnamon cream & dulce de leche dip - The churros were really good though I didn't really get dulce de leche in the dip, it kinda just tasted like a cream.

Main dessert - hot chocolate souffle with fiery chocolate center and kahlua soother - The hot chocolate souffle had a real kick to it. It was real pretty and so you broke into the souffle and got a real rich chocolateyness and then this peppery back of the throat afterkick that made you go wow. The kahlua soother was ok, though the souffle was the real focus on this dish.

Intermezzo - papaya & lime margarita sorbet with papaya stick - The sorbet was quite good. Real flavorful and well churned and smooth. I didn't get to try the papaya stick but when I asked how it was the answer I was given was 'no good' by the person who ate it before he realized he finished it.

Cheese course - pepper cheese enchilada with guava sauce - The enchilada was really good. In the enchilada the cheese was real melty and gooey which the guava sauce complimented nicely. There were a couple pieces of the cold cheese on the plate and that didn't work as well with the sauce.

Petit fours - chocolate infused horchata & mexican wedding cookie. The cookie was really delicate and buttery. It had a pecan on top. Apparently horchata is a beverage made of ground sesame seeds, almonds, rice or something else like that. Well I'm guessing ours was sesame because there was a stick in it of white chocolate with sesame seeds on it and there was something sweet I couldn't quite identify. The sesame stick was really good. The drink I wasn't uber memorable so I don't remember.


Service was prompt, though they still have some kinks to work out. The girls all had these red wrap shirts that, by themselves, were very low cut. They each had a Cocosala pin that went in the middle and depending on where they put the pin, lessened or enhanced the cleavage bearing. A few wore a black shirt underneath and they all had short black skirts on. The guys, on the otherhand, were not so snazzy looking. They also had red shirts but they were just basic t-shirts that weren't particularly well cut, at least not on the 1 guy that was there.

They didn't really have a cohesive message when we asked our waitress to explain the place to us. All she told us about were the cocobites and the 5 course items. There was a whole other page of the menu that she never said anything about. Those were the drinks, you could get hot chocolate trio's and some other desserts in case you didn't go for the 5 course I guess.

The chairs were a little weird. They were like modern sofa type things, except there was only 1 arm. The tables were a smooth black solid glass type thing. No table cloth. I actually think this looks better because it's cleaner and less fussy. Black napkins. Lighting was really dark, like barely read the menu dark.

One of the owner's came by our table during our 5 course dessert and initially wanted to talk but then it seems he only wanted to know how we heard of the place. After that he moved on pretty quick. The place is obviously pretty new if the owner is coming in still. And he was having dinner with what looked like his coowner and their dates at about 9:30 or so, towards the end of our meal.

Overall it was a tasty meal, though I think I would have ordered more food if I were to do it again. We left, not starving but not like full. The 5 course dessert was not overwhelming, which was a slight concern before we went though not really for me because I can never have enough dessert. It's like that Visa or whatever commercial where the lady was all excited to have dinner reservations at that fancy place and the food was ... small... so afterwards they went and got more food. We didn't get more food though there may have been a snack when we got home.