I am sad to hear via Gowanus Lounge that Cocotte, that romantic French restaurant on Fifth Avenue and 4th Street is going out of business.

The life of a restaurants in Park Slope can be so unstable. Cocotte really made a try of it—they’ve been around for five years or more. I remember after ZuZu’s Petals had the fire at their Seventh Avenue Store, there was a lovely fundraising party at Cocotte, an event which helped them finance their Fifth Avenue store.

My friend Jerry, who knows everything about food in Park Slope, said that Cocotte had gotten really good in the last year (he liked it better than the new Belleville). I must speak with Jerry about this. What’s the word Jerry?

According to Bob at Gowanus Lounge, rising rents are to blame for the death of Cocotte. But I think they’ve been having a hard time for a while. The original Cocotte was opened by the couple who owned A Table, a wonderful, defunct restaurant on Lafayette Avenue in Ft. Greene, with some friends.

Thank goodness for OTBKB readers. One just wrote in with the real story:

Cocotte was opened by my former next door neighbors. Their first and other restaurant was Lou Lou on Dekalb Avenue , not A Table. They sold the coop next door, bought a house across the street, sold it and last I knew had moved to New Jersey . I lost touch with them, but it could be that the commute, on top of the high rent, suggested it was time to move on. If they could open 2 restaurants and make a go of both, they could surely be doing it again. I hope they’re doing well, wherever they are and whatever they’re doing. They’re great people. I remember that special event they hosted for Fonda. I met her that night for the first time. We really do live in a community full of extraordinary people.

In a later email, she wonders if perhaps they sold the restaurant when they moved to New Jersey.

As recently as last week, I recommended Cocotte for a romantic Valentine’s meal. It was, indeed, the perfect place for onion soup, Long Island Duck Breast with root vegetable couscous, picholine olives, quince (YUM), delicious crepes, Steak Frites, and hamburgers.

According to Paul Leschen, who briefly penned Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn Restaurants, Cocotte had one of the best burgers on Seventh Avenue (after Stone Park Cafe and Bonnie’s Grill):

The burger across the street at Cocotte is pretty good, too; it’s bigger than Stone Park’s, and it too is made with a high quality beef. But the meat at Cocotte is too lean, and as such, it wasn’t overly juicy or flavorful. I had been told it could be served with Gruyere, but I was only offered Swiss. The fries, on the other hand, were Belgian-style and flecked with fresh herbs and, along with a great glass of house Cote du Rhone, made up for the burger’s minor deficiencies.

Cocotte made a great go of it. I for one am very sorry that they’ll be leaving the block across from the The Old Stone House. First Living on Fifth, now Cocotte. Hang in there Brooklyn Mercantile, Serene Rose, Razor and the rest…