Photo: CouCou via Nick Walker Studios
David Hochman, Contributor
The ice cream of your childhood dreams is deliciously reinvented at Coucou in Venice, California. At the new Cali-French bistro on Main Street, Bouchon alum Jacob Wetherington created a swirly soft serve (with fancy fixin’s) that’s a crowd pleaser not only at the restaurant but also on TikTok, where the lactose-erati is showing off videos of what really is the tastiest new dessert in L.A.
I was surprised to see only one dessert item on the menu at Coucou (to be fair, the swirl is not actually listed on the menu, but still…). Yet this dish delivers with a mix of nostalgia, elegance and drizzly good times. The oversized vanilla soft serve is a twisted updo of Straus Family Creamery ice cream served in a celery green parfait glass. The accompaniments add major drama—with diva honors going to the side dish of pourable hard-shell chocolate.