Two years ago, at a food symposium in Copenhagen, Los Angeles-based chef Roy Choi posed a question:
“What if every high caliber chef, all of us here, told our investors, if we leveraged it, that for every fancy restaurant we would build, it would be a requirement to build a restaurant in the hood as well?” he asked.
This week, that dream came to fruition for Choi, who, with San Francisco-based chef Daniel Patterson, opened the quick-service concept Locol in Watts, a low-income neighborhood in Los Angeles.
The concept is designed to challenge the status quo of American fast food, Choi said at the MAD4 conference in Cophenhagen last year. The goal is to demonstrate that quality food can be made at a price point that competes with the dollar menus of the large chains that have long dominated the landscape in communities like Watts.
“We fundamentally believe that wholesomeness, deliciousness and affordability don’t have to be mutually exclusive concepts in fast food,” Locol’s website states. “We believe that the giant corporations that feed most of America have degraded our communities by maximizing profits over decades. We believe that chefs should feed America, not suits.”
Locol has an open kitchen and a sleek and modern design, with black-and-white boxes of various sizes serving as both chairs and tables. Customers order at touchscreen kiosks or at the counter and wait for their number to be called. There are only a handful of seats inside, with another few box/tables on a small outdoor patio.
On the menu are “Burgs,” priced at $4, including a generously sized cheeseburger with Jack cheese, scallion relish and “awesome sauce;” a fried chicken sandwich with slaw, buttermilk mayo and hot sauce; and a BBQ Turkey sandwich with buttermilk mayo that includes pulled turkey rather than the typical patty.
Bowls are priced at $6, including traditional beef chili with onions, crushed crackers and hot sauce; as well as more healthful options, like a crushed tofu and veggie stew with rice; or a “Bulgar Language” bowl with creamy green goddess dressing and croutons.
“Foldies,” priced at $2, included grilled taco-like options with carnitas or machaca, which is shredded beef, and “Crunchies” included both veggie nuggets and chicken nuggets. “Yotchays,” priced at $1, included sides like Southern-style greens, rice or spicy corn chips.
No fries or sodas are served, only fruit-based agua frescas or coffee, which is roasted in house, each priced at $1. For dessert, soft-serve ice cream, priced at $4, is offered.
Breakfast, or “Brekkie,” will be added in two weeks, and will include options like Egg in the Hole, priced at $4; yogurt and granola, priced at $3; or “green juice,” priced at $2.
Choi, whose Los Angeles restaurants include Pot, A Frame, and the casual rice-bowl concept Chego, has long advocated elevated street food. He first achieved fame with his Kogi BBQ Taco Truck that fused Korean and Mexican dishes and fueled the city’s food truck trend.
Patterson is the principal behind the San Francisco-based group that operates the fine-dining restaurants Coi, Alta CA and Aster, as well as Plum Bar and Haven in Oakland, Calif. Earlier this month, Patterson named former L2O chef Matthew Kirkley to replace him as executive chef at Coi so Patterson could devote more time to his family and to Locol.
At the MAD4 conference last year, Patterson noted that Locol is not charity work. “It is a for-profit business,” he said.
Choi reportedly raised some funding with an Indiegogo campaign, and Locol also received $275,000 in community development block grant funding from the city of Los Angeles for the purchase of restaurant equipment. Such funding is available for projects that help revitalize neighborhoods.
The opening of Locol on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday brought out crowds that included Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, as well as Hollywood celebrities such as Lena Dunham and Jon Favreau.
Choi and Patterson are reportedly planning to open two Locol units in the San Francisco Bay Area in similarly underserved neighborhoods, as well as another unit in Watts.
Both Choi and Patterson declined to respond to questions about future plans for the concept, but Patterson said last year that Locol had the potential for “millions” of locations.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
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