Most Popular
-
Barack Obama and Me
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
-
A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
-
Little Bitty Burger Barn
"It's okay to be little bitty in the big city" is an apt slogan for this new burger joint, where sliders rule
-
Houston St. Patrick's Day Guide
Our guide to going green for St. Paddy's
-
Live-Action Role-Players Get Boffed in Amtgard
Amid flailing swords and flying shields, these modern-day knights fight on
-
Barack Obama and Me (255)
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
-
A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita (22)
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
-
Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge? (7)
All This Useless Beauty
-
What's the Problem Houston? (5)
The city's skuzzy alt-rock scene thinks it is dying
-
Live-Action Role-Players Get Boffed in Amtgard (5)
Amid flailing swords and flying shields, these modern-day knights fight on
-
Little Bitty Burger Barn
"It's okay to be little bitty in the big city" is an apt slogan for this new burger joint, where sliders rule
-
It's Hip to Be Square at Masraff's
Continental cuisine is over, so why would anybody want to eat at this retirees' hang-out on South Post Oak Lane?
-
Breakfast Enchiladas at Mi Sombrero
At this old-fashioned Tex-Mex joint on North Shepherd, the huevos are served all day on weekends
-
Paneer and Pizza at Gourmet India and Kings Chicken
-
Hunan Restaurant Gives Birth to Gigi's Asian Bistro and Dumpling House
-
Over the Weekend: SXSW, Rockets and Fishnet
12:03AM 03/17/08 -
SXSW: Fourteen Bands in Eight Hours
04:26PM 03/16/08 -
Batman Forever: Battier Gets His Due
10:07PM 03/16/08 -
Bushmills 1608 for St. Paddy’s Day
06:06AM 03/17/08
What we are writing about
- American Gangster
- Amy Sillman: Suitors...
- birth defects
- Bob Dylan
- Christmas Tree-O
- Continental Club
- Houston art
- Houston local music
- Houston music stores
- Houston Rockets
- Houston theater
- I'm Not There
- illegal immigrants
- Main Street Theater
- McGonigel's Mucky Duck
- Meridian
- Perspectives 158:...
- players' scoring averages
- Proletariat
- Rudyard's
- Rumors
- Sig's Lagoon
- Somerville
- Sound Exchange
- toxic industrial...
- Toyota Center
- Turkeys of the Year
- Verizon Wireless Theater
- Warehouse Live
- Wii
Recent Articles By Eric Gerber
-
Tex-Mex Makeover
Sabor morphs into 1308 Cantina
-
Sigh...
Most likely, Villagio's will get better, or Villagio's will go away
-
Split Personality
PK's Blue Water Grill has the soul of a funky fish house and the body of a fashionable seafood restaurant
-
A Simple Plan
Scott Tycer may have downshifted, but diners will still find themselves in the gastronomic fast lane at Pic.
-
Some Like It Hot
And they could be in for mild disappointment at Nidda Thai
National Features
-
Phoenix New Times
Canine Crusaders
That drug-sniffing dog up ahead? He may not be your best friend.
By Ray Stern -
Broward-Palm Beach New Times
The Muscle Men
Thanks to a string of Florida "anti-aging clinics," baseball's steroid scandal isn't limited to superstars.
By Michael J. Mooney -
Miami New Times
Picked On
Farm workers earn nada in America's green-bean capital.
By Janine Zeitlin -
Village Voice
"Why I'm No Longer a Brain-Dead Liberal"
An election-season essay from one of America's greatest playwrights.
By David Mamet
Veh-Ree Theen Pancakes
Continued from page 1
Published: October 19, 2006My own favorite is a mix of bananas and Nutella, that wonderfully gooey blend of chocolate and hazelnut that's been popular in Europe since the 1950s and is just now becoming widespread over here. Vaingloriously, I was going to take credit for inventing this particular combination till I was informed that bananas-and-Nutella has been a standard of sidewalk vendors in London and Paris for decades.
For the crepe purists wondering if CoCo's uses one type of batter for the sweet and another for the savory, that answer would be no. It's a single, all-purpose mixture. Another grouse: You'll be served on a paper plate and provided flimsy plastic silverware. On the bright side, the to-go orders are packed in hard plastic shells, not that feeble white Styrofoam.
The grilled sandwiches at CoCo's are made on oversize slices of sourdough-ish bread (instead of the ciabatta or baguettes often used), and the fillings are pretty much the same ingredients used in the savory crepes. The two panini I sampled -- one with goat cheese and roasted red peppers, the other Moroccan sausage -- were rather tepid and surprisingly saccharine. It could be the caramelized onions.
CoCo's provides free Wi-fi, and on one visit I saw a laptopper clicking away happily as she nursed some odd-looking tea (chocolate mate?).
No doubt CoCo's regulars are well attuned to the ebb and flow of the place and its appealing, if not entirely successful, menu. The question for the rest of us, then, is how keen are we to have "zee veh-ree theen pancakes"? Frankly, I'm not dying to go back. But, unlike Ricky Bobby, you wouldn't have to twist my arm.
