"Cotoa gives the pantry staples of Miami the flowers they deserve. To call this reading nook of a restaurant in North Miami the best Ecuadorian spot in the city is a grave understatement, considering we only have about five of them. Cotoa’s renditions of classics—like seco de pollo reimagined as plantain tortellini—feel like instant classics themselves. Even more notable, though, is their brilliant use of less common ingredients. They whip palo santo into butter and deserve a fat donation from the cacao industry, given all the ways they’ve made it delicious." - ryan pfeffer, virginia otazo, mariana trabanino