After a Seattle Symphony concert, it has long been a tradition among my friends to walk the three blocks from Benaroya Hall, up University Street, past Luly Yang Couture to gawk at the jaw-dropping gowns in the window (the pictures on the web site fail to capture their fabulousness), arriving at the W Hotel, home of Earth & Ocean, where we would settle ourselves in for a post-concert dessert. The desserts themselves were exquisite, thanks to the inspiration of Seattle’s “diva of desserts”, Sue McCown. Or at least, that was our routine until this season. Sue McCown left Earth & Ocean during the summer to open her own restaurant, and when we went to Earth & Ocean after a September concert, we could tell that the magic touch was gone. We waited anxiously for Sue’s new restaurant Coco la ti da to open, which it did last week. (We so adore her desserts that we feel like we’re on a first-name basis with her.) It was the new restaurant’s opening weekend and the place was so packed that a few of us had to spend some time squeezed two in one chair. Even though it’s hardly walking distance from Benaroya Hall, the drive was well worth it. Here’s the power Sue McCown has over us: When the waiter came to take our orders, one of my friends who has very high standards for food quality (and those who know this circle of friends will immediately recognize who it is I’m talking about) said, “I’ll have one of everything on this page.”

(Now, mind you, there were seven tiny desserts on the page, and a typical order would have been for two to four of them. Therefore, ordering all seven was not too absurd, especially since they were shared with the rest of the table. But the story just sounds better when you say, “X ordered everything on page seven!”)