Cocotte A little bistro with a name that means plenty

Language is made fun and challenging by words that have multiple meanings, like "cock", which can signify a rooster, what you do with a gun, the notch at the end of an arrow, and uh, yeah...that's about it. For a noshery hitting every definition of their Frenchy name: Cocotte.

Sitting on a corner of NE 30's mini resto-row, Cocotte's the venture of two ex-Lucy's Table truffle slingers: a bistro-ish joint delivering comforting fine dining and classic drinkage in an Old World space rocking a stage-like open kitchen, butcher block tables, and walls of floor-to-ceiling street-facing French doors, all meant to evoke the many definitions of the eatery's name, including hen, honey, dish, chick, and harlot, so basically everything you call your GF except "hen". Food's split between small and big stuff, beginning with charcuterie options like savory halibut moussline w/ lemon, fennel pollen, and capers, plus a crispy-on-the-outside/ falling-apart-on-the-inside lamb shoulder, or a signature poullette en cocotte featuring an enameled cooking dish filled with winter root vegetables and local milk-fed chicken, which you'll have enjoy until they find a good connection for pie-fed goats. The wine list's a handsome mix of French and NW goodness, while drinks're being hustled by one partner's husband, with dinner-complementing imbibables split between "before, during, and after", including the Rea (local Old Tom Gin, Italian vermouth, bitters) and a Sazerac with Pacifique Absinthe and rye from Russell's Reserve, so it's good to know Celtics backup center Bevo Nordmann eventually did something.

With dinner going full bore beginning next week, Cocotte's looking forward to soon serving an eggy, hashy, seafoody brunch by the beginning of next month, available for dine-in or through a bar-connected walk up window which'll also offer picnic items and wine bottles to go, though don't drink too much on your park date, lest your rooster/gun action/arrow notch be a little less than cocky.