El Cocotero

Woot! First success with restaurants in a while!
Drinks are $ 5.50 – a little too pricy for a lowly Baltimor-​ian, but worth every penny.
I had the chorizo and farmer’s cheese patacon, and it was really good. No other word for it, just good.
The portion was enough for me to be kept happy and full.
The bill was a little higher than expected – mostly because I’ve never paid $ 5.50 for a drink – but i do not regret eating at this place and would love to go back!

Finally tried this place! Went for dinner and tried the arepas and my husband had the roasted chicken. Also a couple of salads and maduros. All was good, fresh tasting, and delivered to the table first. The waiter was great — very accommodating — when we were told they were out of steak (husband’s first choice), they gave us a salad on the house, along with a free side (maudros). That was really going above and beyond. Sauces on the side of the arepas were good. Unfortunately the corn cake of the arepas wasn’t my favorite — fresh and edible — just not in my palette. I would return and look for more of their dinner entrees instead.

It seemed like this restaurant took forever to open. I live in an apartment building across the street and for a while, we were trying to figure out what would be opening there. At first, some signage went up saying it would be a restaurant called OVO but just a few weeks later, it changed to El Cocotero.
They primarily offer sandwiches and maybe 5 platters. I’m guessing they probably expect most customers in the area would do takeout so they focus on sandwiches but for South American /​Central American food, I like getting the full platters with the rice, beans and vegetables along with the meat.
We got the shredded beef platter. It came with rice, beans and plantains. I don’t know what they did with the beans but they were the most deliciously flavored black beans I’ve ever had! The shredded beef was also full of flavor.
The décor is nice and once you’re inside, you forget that this is in the middle of a strip mall. There weren’t many customers when we went but I certainly hope business picks up for these guys. Definitely worth trying!