Little Coco's

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Little Coco's is an Italian restaurant featuring unique pizzas, fresh homemade pastas, and dishes both inspired by the regional cooking of Italy and enhanced with locally sourced ingredients. Little Coco's is the project of owner Jackie Greenbaum, owner Gordon Banks, and executive chef Adam Harvey. Little Coco's is also part of Goodbar Management Group, which owns and operates El Chucho, Slash Run, Bar Charley and Quarry House Tavern.  Closest Metro is Petworth.

Giving a cozy neighborhood restaurant vibe, we were invited to check out the current menu offerings in the newly enclosed upstairs patio, which is available to be rented out for private parties.  The space can hold up to 40 people comfortably, and has access to its own bar and restroom.

We started with Fried Baby Artichokes served with a green goddess dressing and topped with parmesan.  They were meaty and would be a great snack with your favorite beer or cocktail.

Homemade Bread was also served with four different spreads/toppings: whipped pork butter, anchovies, truffle marinated artichokes, and whipped ricotta.  The bread was nice and crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside.

I liked the Roasted Beets & Burrata with crispy prosciutto, balsamic, pinenuts, and orange prosecco vinaigrette.  There was a lot of complimentary flavors and textures in this salad.

Another great seasonal salad we had was a Citrus Salad featuring blood orange, cara cara orange, and grapefruit segments with arugula, pistachio, olives, jalapeno, and ricotta salata.  The flavors were bright and refreshing.

Next, we tried a few pastas.  Keith loved Chef's Mother-in-Lawsagna made with beef bolognese, caciocavallo, and bechamel.  It smelled amazing and I could tell it was made with extra love between all the layers of pasta and sauce.

Another hearty dish was the Kabocha Squash Pappardelle served with pork cheeks, red onion, and jalapeno.  The pasta was cooked perfectly, and the wide noodle stood up on its own without much sauce.  The pork cheeks were tender and added that extra warmth to fill your belly on a cold winter's night.

A more decadent pasta dish that I loved was the Black Spaghetti with Crab - handcut squid ink pasta tossed in a shellfish cream with sea beans and topped with lump crabmeat and ‘nduja bread crumbs.  The spaghetti was long causing a huge ball of pasta twirled on my fork for each bite.  I didn't mind having a full cheeks as I cleaned this sinful dish.

Little Coco's is proud of their Roman style pizza that starts with twice-baked crust that is baked at nearly 650 degrees in a Swedish electric oven.  Beer is also used in the dough mix, producing a soft bready interior with a crispy crust that still holds all the toppings.  They have meticulously researched and practiced their techniques to get the pizza to their liking that is served today.  Their pizza challenges the popular Neopolitan style that can be found most everywhere these days. The chef's and probably my favorite was the simple Cheese Pie with fontina, fresh mozzarella, and herbs.

I also liked the vegetarian option called Caulifornication that is topped with cauliflower, scamorza, pesto, pinenuts, and raisins.   Another crowd favorite was The Capital City topped with artichoke, shiitake, truffle, prosciutto, and duck egg.

Lastly we sampled a couple desserts.  The Cannoli comes in a trio of classic, chocolate, and a seasonal flavor -- tonight was passion fruit. The cream was thick and not overly sweet.  Homemade Gelato comes in hazelnut, chocolate, vanilla-thyme, and other seasonal flavors.

All in all, the food at Little Coco's was comforting and reminiscent of cherished family recipes.  Several specials planned to be rolled out soon, such as "All You Can Eat Pasta and Prosecco" on Sundays for $35.  They currently offer "Bottomless Brunch" for just $18.95 through February that includes an entree plus bottomless mimosas.

Total Rating: 3.93
Food: 4, Price: 4, Service: 4, Ambience: 3.5, Accessibility: 3.5