Coconut Cravings

Husky

by Kelly White

As much as you want to eat your coconut shampoo because it smells so good, hold out for brunch at Azul. The coconut pancakes have major snap courtesy of coconut milk mixed into the batter. The sweet stack, which tastes best drizzled with passionfruit syrup, comes crowned with mango and shaved coconut.

Alma de Cuba's lobster and crab coconut ceviche arrives in its iced glass boat, buoyed by habaneros and a ginger and lime sorbet. The mellow coconut gives this seafood salad the rich and refreshing push it needs.

Coconut cream pie is one of Matyson's legendary desserts. The nutty macadamia crust is jacked up with chocolate ganache, coconut filling, tufts of pillowy whipped cream and coconut flakes. A sprig of mint and a squiggle of chocolate set it off right.

Start off with Rangoon's coconut galanga soup, which features chicken, vegetables and Thai ginger mixed up in coconut milk. Follow up by way of the coconut shrimp doused in coconut sauce. End the three-course tryst with coconut layer bread, a traditional sweet dessert pounded with coconut syrup.

A tiny amount of coconut extract is added to Mike Landers' vegan cookies, currently available at the Last Drop (1300 Pine St.) and Greensgrow Farms (2501 E. Cumberland St.). Hit with the precious nectar, the tempting treasures turn out deceptively buttery and satisfying, like tropical sugar cookies.