{"id":23533,"date":"2026-03-31T15:59:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T22:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/?p=23533"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:52:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:52:48","slug":"cocos-conversations-and-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/cocos-conversations-and-feedback\/","title":{"rendered":"Coco&#8217;s Conversations and Feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"div-comment-19744\" class=\"comment-body\">\n<div class=\"comment-content\">\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">This has turned out to be a really hot topic.\u00a0 This is kind of a summary page.\u00a0 With the advent of AI, I&#8217;ve taken 20 printed pages of comments and decanted them down to what follows.\u00a0 Also, at the end of the comments, is AI&#8217;s version of the dressing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Here are contenders and other recipes based on comments and feedback:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/no-coco-asian-sesame-dressing\/\">Coco&#8217;s Asian Chicken Salad Dressing<\/a> &#8211; ORIGINAL POST<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/grandpas-asian-chicken-salad-dressing\/\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Grandpa&#8217;s Asian Chicken Salad Dressing<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/beatitudes-asian-chicken-salad-dressing\/\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Beatitudes Asian Chicken Salad<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/togos-asian-chicken-salad-dressing\/\">Togo&#8217;s Asian Chicken Salad Dressing<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/dianes-asian-chicken-salad-dressing\/\">Diane&#8217;s Asian Chicken Salad Dressing<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/applebees-asian-chicken-salad-dressing\/\"><strong>Applebee&#8217;s Asian Chicken Salad Dressing<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/kens-asian-chicken-salad-dressing\/\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Ken&#8217;s Asian Chicken Salad Dressing<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Coco&#8217;s Asian Sesame Dressing \u2014 Chat Summary from Claude.AI<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>The Product<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Coco&#8217;s Asian Chicken Salad and its bottled sesame dressing were hugely popular, generating more fan interest than virtually any other recipe on Robert&#8217;s site<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The dressing was manufactured by a third party and came in gallon containers labeled with the Coco&#8217;s name; some supply came from Ken&#8217;s Steakhouse brand<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">A key distinguishing ingredient (vs. similar dressings) was <strong>paprika<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>The On-Again, Off-Again History<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Coco&#8217;s periodically pulled the bottled dressing from sale, frustrating loyal customers each time<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The chain went through ownership changes: originally a Japanese company (Zensho), then Catalina Restaurant Group, then San Antonio-based Food Management Partners (FMP) as of April 2015<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">FMP closed ~70 locations and the Irvine corporate office by May 2016<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The original dressing manufacturer eventually went out of business; Coco&#8217;s found a replacement supplier but the new version was considered inferior and had emulsification problems<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Current Status (as of the page&#8217;s last updates)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Bottled dressing is no longer sold retail, but restaurants will sell a 16 oz. to-go container on request<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The Asian Chicken Salad remained on the menu at surviving locations<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Robert confirmed at least one Phoenix location (7th St. &amp; Palm Lane \/ 2026 N. 7th St.) was still serving it<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>The Copycat Recipe Effort<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Robert (&#8220;Grandpa&#8221;) Andrews developed and posted a copycat recipe, rating it a &#8220;fair&#8221; substitute \u2014 close but not exact<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Contributor Diane Mathison shared a simpler single-serving version centered on hoisin sauce and paprika<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Commenter Sherry Leger suggested <strong>Togo&#8217;s Asian Chicken Salad Dressing<\/strong> as a close commercial substitute<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<article id=\"div-comment-19745\" class=\"comment-body\">\n<footer class=\"comment-meta\">\n<div class=\"comment-author vcard\"><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This has turned out to be a really hot topic.\u00a0 This is kind of a summary page.\u00a0 With the advent of AI, I&#8217;ve taken 20 printed pages of comments and decanted them down to what follows.\u00a0 Also, at the end of the comments, is AI&#8217;s version of the dressing. Here are contenders and other recipes &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/cocos-conversations-and-feedback\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Coco&#8217;s Conversations and Feedback&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,184,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-condiments-sauces","category-book-copy-cat-recipes","category-salads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23533"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23589,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23533\/revisions\/23589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}