CCC

Only readers of a certain vintage might guess that  CCC refers to the Civilian Conservation Corp, but no, you’re wrong!  In this case it stands for CoCo Cantina (okay I took a little liberty there for artistic purposes.)

I have been trying to hook up with a friend for lunch lately, and finally both our schedules meshed last Friday.  Looking for a different venue, we decided to try the new place in the old place that was Lone Star.  I have noticed in my travels up and down Three Notch Road that the place is usually pretty busy around (working people’s) lunch hour so we purposely chose to meet at 1:30 to try to avoid the crush.  It worked.  I pulled into a very empty parking lot with thoughts of “uh oh, I wonder if they stopped serving lunch already”.  No, it is continuously open from eleven o’clock.  Met my friend and in we went..

There seems to be no physical changes in the interior, a room to the left, a few tables around the bar including booths on the back wall, and that awkward (at least to me) sun room affair.   The walls have been painted in pastels, evoking maybe a more Latin atmosphere, plus there are some palm tree like wall decoration here and there, but mostly like the previous occupant.  I don’t remember Lone Star all that well, but there are now 5(!) flat screens above the "roof" of the bar, and two more below, at bar height..  I didn't check the other spaces to see if there were some in there. We were offered seating wherever we wished, since I think there was only one more table occupied and they were in the process of paying the check.  We chose a booth on the back wall across from the bar.  As I scooted into my seat I noticed the table was uncommonly high, maybe mid chest.  In my case that is probably a plus since it limits the area of clothing that I can spill food upon.  We were pretty quickly approached by a server who announced she was … "and would be our server" (kind of obvious, but okay) we were offered menus, and asked about drinks.  When asked, she reeled off several beers (starting with our old friends bud light and coors light).  I was hoping for maybe a Pacifico but it wasn’t on the list, nor do I recall a San Miguel, but I’m working from memory.  So I settled for a Negra Modelo which isn’t bad.  Off she went to get the drinks, and so we turned to the menu.

Coco Cantina doesn’t advertise themselves as a  “Mexican” restaurant, rather characterizing their fare as “Latin Inspired Cuisine”.   However, some of the usual suspects of the former show up on the menu, such as fajita’s, tacos, burritos, although there weren’t any enchiladas or tamales.  They also serve many types of burgers, such as Mexi-Cali, and Fajita.  Nachos and quesadillas show up on the starter menu.  Unlike many of our local out and out Mexican places, no chips and salsa show up on the table.  The beverages arrived, and we both chose soft tacos, pulled chicken for me and braised pork for across the table.  Had to chose sides and we both went for beans over rice.  They were eight dollars for a pair of the tacos, probably reasonable as were the other menu items (always in the eye of the beholder). 

I must admit it was very enjoyable just sitting and chatting in an almost empty restaurant, no noise for distractions (and the TV's were very low) and we had a great conversation about this and that.  I didn’t put the clock on the order, but it arrived after a few minutes of talking.  The first thing that struck me was the dish was very colorful and “fresh” looking. 

 

You know how sometimes you get your (normally searingly hot plate delivered with a mitt on the server's hand with all the ingredients running together) and the admonishment about "watch that plate..." ?   Well this looked like it was inidiviually assembled and not scooped from a pot and was fairly pleasant on the eye.   I don’t think the menu said “re-fried” beans and these were not; no soupy mess encountered so often.  They were nicely textured, probably pinto beans and a little sweet and the rice wasn’t blown out like you mostly get.  The chicken under the topping did indeed look like it was pulled and had fairly nice flavor.  From somewhere in the dish there was a fair amount of liquid so holding the soft taco in your hand was impossible, although the braised pork version was “dry” enough to eat that way.  I resorted to a fork.  There was some spice to the filling, but not dominating, which is just fine with me.

During the meal our server checked on us a couple of times, just passing by instead of a constant barrage of “how is everything”?  We lingered after finishing the food for more conversation, and declined the offered dessert.

So it was a very enjoyable lunch, and I would go back, although I would wait for the quiet time again.  At least what we had was distinguishable from the normal Mexican places, and maybe a bit better.  A more extensive exploration of the menu is probably in order before a real solid opinion is formed.  It's different enough (yes, one lunch, one time) that you might want to give it a try.

 

and given it's history, I wouldn't worry too much about being

 

DFD(or L)