We started our walk near the George Washington University and weaved our way to the Washington Monument, enjoying the Mall and the people watching, wrapped around the south side of the Capitol and stopped at the Folger Shakespeare Library. There is an exhibit on the Kings James Bible which was interesting enough. After reading as much as we could, we decided a quick stop at the Library of Congress was in order. If you haven't been, go- it is magnificent and you can't beat the price.
We walked back, this time cutting up Pennsylvania Ave. and returned to the car to drive up to Dumbarton Oaks. For those of us who have spent the better part of our adult lives in the Georgetown area, it is amazing that such serenity can exist just north of M Street and east of Wisconsin. Again, it's worth a stop...especially when your parents are in town.
Wait! This is a food blog of sorts, right? Well, most of what we do is experience driven, so bear with us...we travel, tour and make it a mini-adventure, even if it's just to walk from Foggy to Penn Quarter, we soak stuff in. Very rarely will we (use robotic voice here) get-into-car--drive-to-restaurant--eat--return home. So back we go, down 31st Street, zipping on over to the Penn Quarter area, finding a killer parking spot just around the corner from Co Co. Sala.
Understand, we had skipped over and past Co Co. several times either on Opentable or as we walked past it looking for a place to grab a drink. It seemed to be a chocolate driven shop that just didn't suck in these two flavor driven folks.
Still, yesterday was the day. Reservations were early, a 5:30pm seating. When we arrived, we were greeted by the hostess who sat us in the back by the bar...just beyond the 8 year old birthday party- no joke. Still, the space was fantastic- low table with cushy lounge couch seating. Our waiter was great...explained a little about the restaurant, its history and made us feel comfortable immediately. Not one bit stuffy, which is had a chance of being.
For two wine drinkers- we made an early, mutual decision that we were at a chocolate based restaurant with chocolate infused vodka drinks...so a cocktail was in order. Let's see- I got the Festish...a fantastic take on a chocolate covered strawberry. She ordered the Co Cojito...a limey, minty, chocolately mojito sub in vodka, leave out the rum. Both were great!
For dinner, they have small plates and our waiter suggested two to three per person. We opted for two each because movie popcorn awaited in the hours ahead. Early disclaimer- WE LOVE MOVIE POPCORN!!!! It will find its way into most nights...even if it's at home on the couch!
Back to the small plates- so fun...we ordered sweet and sour cauliflower and a duck confit cigar fennel salad to start. We are suckers for funky takes on old standbys, and we were both amazed at how the chef made a piece of cauliflower taste like a protein. If you close your eyes, you might believe you were eating a delicious batch of sweet and sour chicken, minus the nasty fatty stuff. The dish came with three pieces of cauliflower, sitting in a bed of crispy, shredded spinach...sweet and tasty with good texture. The duck confit cigar was something between a duck-spring roll and one of those "texas toothpicks" from Rock Bottom. My apologies to the chef because the "cigar" was fantastic, but it reminded me of the aforementioned toothpick. Moving along...the duck confit was perfectly complemented by the fennel and Asian pear salad, which has some sort of chili pepper or something that added an additional kick- it was fabulous.
The two "main" small dishes we ordered we the swordfish sliders and the butternut squash, pancetta, smoked gouda risotto. Our mouths are watering as we relive last night's dinner. The swordfish was perfectly cooked, not at all dry. The portions were great and there was a little fennel "slaw" that was placed on the asiago mini-buns...delish! The risotto was excellent, however, we decided it should be renamed. The butternut squash was a secondary flavor at best. The salty beauty created by the pancetta coupled with the gooey gouda made the dish fantastic...and don't think for one second that we looked past the friend sage leaf...in fact, we cut it up and ate it with our final bites.
Overall, Co Co. Sala pleasantly surprised us with outstanding ambiance, great service, intriguing cocktails, creative teasers and rich "main" courses. We'll return...not right away, but we will return. Note- we didn't have dessert at the chocolate place!!!
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| Worth a trip! |
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