Coco la ti da= [3(Creativity) + A Little Nutty] - Attitude
Coco la ti da’s namesake dessert tastes like a Mounds bar…in heaven.**
This week, Sue McCown’s Coco la ti da finally opens.
Big disclaimer alert, as I love this woman. I worked at the W way back when, when it was 100% stunning–from amuse bouche to dessert. Sue McCown played wicked closer to John Sundstrom’s perfect game, and everyone lived happily ever after. Master Sundstrom now has Lark and Licorous. Former second in command and succesor Maria Hines has Tilth. Sue McCown has been ripe for her own joint, and finally she’s got it.
I figure I’ve eaten, conservatively, about 413 of her cherry crackle pop tarts, 79 fractured tuile legs, 137 sugar springs totally some 50 feet, 33 variations of chocolate tortes, and an easy 325 of her assorted fruit tarts. She takes those traditional components of French patisserie and plays with them adding less traditional new world ingredients, riffing on comfort food favorites. Then she decks out the little sweet bombs with marzipan, sugar dough, and candy art and gives it a cheeky name.
And she pulls it off because she commits. She has this integrated split personality–the brain of a Japanese schoolgirl crammed along side that of a wisened French pastry master. That’s Sue. The puns and clever names are not gimmicks. A gimmick compensates for the lack of substance. No, her flavor combinations are lively, incredible, and lack nothing.
She is a dedicated professional, a sugar chef with mad skills and the bonus gift of seeing what is truly important about dessert. It’s happy fun time. Time for the wine to really kick in, time you can’t understand why it took you so long to relax, time to moan, time to stay too long fighting over the last bite, time to decide whether you’re getting lucky.
Take that someone to Sue’s joint and you undoubtably will.
Coco la ti da
806 East Roy Street
Seattle, WA 98102
Phone: 206.789.COCO
www.cocolatida.com
dessert lounge, with full bar, savory bites, and fromage
November 25th, 2006 at 7:21 am
I read your post and had to go, but I didn’t have the best time. It felt akward and I wanted a dessert lounge, but they serve food. Like real dinner, and not just appetizers. I was expecting the focus to be dessert. Is it just me? I just didn’t know how to order. I also thought that the menu should feature dessert more. Maybe they could do one big long sheet with savory on one side and sweet on the other? That would have helped.
November 25th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Huh. I hear what you’re saying. So did you have dessert? How was it? And was the problem that you felt you had to have MORE than just dessert, or did the menu confuse you?
November 26th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Some of my best meals of the last five years, came from E & O, probably. I loved the desserts we had at CocoLa Ti Da, but I was overwhelmed by choice. And didn’t know what to expect for size on some. But the staff was really helpful. I think you can go for just dessert, but maybe you need to know why you’re going before you go, or you will be paralyzed by choice. Mmmm, sweet, delicious choice.
February 2nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Thanks for sharing
February 7th, 2008 at 5:31 am
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
March 24th, 2008 at 5:04 am
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well.