Coco’s opens today in Fairlea, serving ‘feel good food’
By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
Abby Bashlor’s new eatery, Coco’s, opens the doors today from 10:30am-2:30pm for lunch.
“It has been a labor of love,” Abby says with a smile. “A lot of hard work, but it feels so good to finally open the doors.”
For our introductory story from the winter about Coco’s, click here.
To start, Abby plans to open Monday-Friday for lunch only from 10:30am-2:30pm. Later on, she will expand into breakfast and dinner hours.
The Food
Abby calls her menu “feel good food.”
“My goal is to provide transparency in ingredients,” she says. “You will know every ingredient. It won’t be some weird thing you don’t know what it is.”
The initial lunch menu will include:
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Three flavors of muffins (jammy strawberry, jammy blueberry, & raspberry choc chip)
- Homemade tortillas
- Baked oatmeal
- Chipotle chicken salad
- Egg salad
- BBQ chicken
- Egg/potato/sausage bake
- Smoothie bowls (which are like smoothies but a thicker consistency and topped with items such as granola, honey, almond butter, peanut butter, or fresh fruit). “It’s a smoothie with a little pizazz,” Abby laughs.
- Acia bowls (think frozen fruit sorbet with fresh toppings)
- Energy bites (high protein & low sugar snacks)
- Quesadillas
Not all of these items will be available on opening day, as Abby plans to introduce new items daily as she builds capacity at Nova for serving the public fresh food.
“We will have a new menu item every single day over the first two weeks,” Abby says.
Everything is made in house or purchased from a local producer, down to the tortillas and sauces. “That’s important to us,” Abby notes.
So Coco’s will include a market of local goods such as meat from Renick Valley Meats, raw milk from a Monroe County farm, local greens, and more.
“We hope people can stop by right here in Fairlea and get fresh meat, eggs, milk, and a sandwich,” she says.
The Place
Coco’s is located inside Nova Jiu Jitsu, a growing athletic academy for kids and adults in the Greenbrier Valley. Nova offers fitness, self defense, and jiu jitsu classes multiple times a day each weekday.
While the eatery will be available to Nova’s athletes, it’s intended as a community space that is open to the public.
“Nova is a service project as much as it is a business,” she says of the academy owned by Adam DeGraff, Andrew DeGraff, Dan Kuprin, & Rusty Nelson. “This is our next step in offering people something they can’t get here right now, and the owners have been so supportive of Coco’s.”
Customers are welcome to eat inside Nova or take their food to go.
“There’s so much seating in here,” she shares. “There’s built-in entertainment with the jiu jitsu and a kid’s zone. There’s so much room for kids to run around. It’s a family friendly space.”
Abby also plans to offer lunch deliveries in the immediate vicinity around Fairlea to businesses beginning soon.
“We want to provide a quick, healthier option than going to McDonald’s,” she says.
The Details
Coco’s is located at 8484 Seneca Trail South inside Nova Jiu Jitsu. They officially open today and will welcome customers on weekdays from 10:30am-2:30pm with additional hours on the way.
Abby is quick to say she hasn’t come this far on her own. “Sabrina Casabianca is my right hand woman, my partner aside from my partner, Adam. We’ve built this together.”
“I’m so open to the growth of this place,” Abby concludes. “It could become more, and I look forward to that. It has changed a lot already in the process. The idea is ever-growing.”
