coco loco

Amanda and I went to Coco Loco for lunch yesterday. It was a pretty interesting dining experience. Coco Loco is actually a night club converted into a restaurant by day. We sat down at tables right in the middle of the dance floor after being greeted by the hostess over by the bar. The decor is pretty much what you’d expect of a nightclub converted to a restaurant – christmas lights strung up everywhere, animated palm tree light displays, etc. You’d think I would criticize this as cheap or corny, but it works. Suddenly it struck me as we were sitting in this night club converted to a restaurant with a linen table cloth and $10 worth of christmas lights: this is infinitely more comfortable and cozy than the Ikea maple and steel hyper-moden decor of places like Le Peep, where I feel like I’m eating on a fashion show runway or something.

But anyways, let’s get to the good stuff: the food. My favorite by far was just the plaintain chips they brought out as an appetizer. They were served with what was, as far as I can tell, a bowl of chopped garlic in oil (maybe slightly pickled?). It was a fantastic taste combination I would have never thought to put together. We had an empanadilla appetizer, and then we split the “Coco Loco Combo” which is just a sampler of some of the highlights of their menu. Their menu apparently is a hybrid of Cuban, Puerto Rican and Mexican food, but most of the stuff on the sampler is Cuban/Puerto Rican. A beef and a chicken fricasee, rice and beans, fried pork, shrimp (with more garlic, yum) and some fried plantains on the side.

It was a great meal and we got out of there for like $25 (They appear to keep the same menu for lunch and dinner). Give it a try sometime!