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UPDATE, 1/8/16:
After what can only be assumed is a massive amount of inquiries asking for details surrounding the newly announced Oakland location of LocoL (including one from this publication), chef Roy Choi released the following statement via the duo's favorite social media platform, Instagram:
Mini Blog Post: There have been rumblings up in the Bay about our decision to go into Uptown Oakland. Some fishing for clues, fishing for reasons to find a hook to cast a shade. Some just curious. Are you still going to the Tenderloin? I thought LocoL was only for undeserved communities? Is it store number three or number two? Why this location? Assumptions have already been made. I'm sure it'll be great fodder if the headline read "Daniel Patterson and Roy Choi jump ship to take care of hipsters and techies in Uptown Oakland" The fall before the rise. It's what we crave as humans. Build em up and tear em down. Well...hate to be a bearer of bad news, but I ain't here for those arrows. A part of me wanted to put two middle fingers to the sky and spit loogies like Pac and move on. But LocoL has always been about transparency and that transparency has always originated right here on my feed. We are going to not only Uptown Oakland but also East Oakland. Yes we are still going to the Tenderloin on Turk and Taylor. LocoL is for everybody. There is a whole business side of this that is too boring to write about (lease agreements, construction delays, permitting) that led us to take over half of Plum Bar. Why wait and lose momentum while we wait on East O and TL delays when we could go in and keep the momentum and offer jobs to many from East O and also continue to feed y'all? I never discriminate on who should be fed. Maybe that's the chef in me, in Daniel. The core mission of LocoL has never changed: upend the fast food industry and feed our brothers and sisters delicious healthy food at affordable prices. And those brothers and sisters include you who work in the office buildings too. This is not a normal endeavor, we have no concrete blueprint. We just know it's our mission to feed. To pigeonhole LocoL before it even has a chance to be the owl is not healthy for anyone. I'm excited to go back to the Bay. I have roots in NorCal. I cooked and ran hotels for 8 years in Tahoe, Sactown, South SF, Burlingame, Milpitas, and San Rafael. LocoL is for everybody. And it starts in Watts 1/18/16 at 11am on 1950 East 103rd Street between Grape and Anzac. Straight up. #LocoL
So, stay tuned and enjoy the ride as Choi and Patterson bring their project to Oakland sometime in the near future.
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Chef Daniel Patterson, who recently stepped back as the executive chef of his flagship restaurant COI, is full steam ahead on Locol, his fast casual collaboration with L.A. chef Roy Choi. Now he's announced the location of the much-anticipated restaurant's first Bay Area location, right next to one of his other Daniel Patterson Group restaurants, Plum Bar. Originally, the duo had planned to set up shop in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, eventually shifting gears and planning an Oakland debut after months of delays.
The first location of the fast-casual eatery, which Choi and Patterson hope will change the way people eat, is poised to open in the L.A. Watts neighborhood on January 18, offering healthy options at affordable prices. According to the chef's announcement on Instagram, work on Locol could start as soon as February.
