Roy Choi & Daniel Patterson Bring Fast Food Alternative to East Oakland

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I feel like I have been waiting forever for a Locol – Roi Choi and Daniel Patterson’s affordable and healthy fast food alternative venture announced at MAD 4 in 2014 – location to finally open up; or maybe I just feel like we’ve been talking about this shit forever.

In reality, it’s only been two-years from announcement to execution. More information was released yesterday about the east bay locations of Locol. To give the proverbial and metaphorical middle finger to all of those throwing shade, Chef Patterson and Choi have decided to open multiple locations in the bay area, including the Tenderloin (Taylor + Turk), Uptown Oakland and an East Oakland Locol. Whose to say if they decided to throw in an East Oakland Locol as a mercy location. Maybe they could already sense the Pooh-esque ‘little black raincloud’ of shit-talking following them around because they chose to offer their “fast food made with wholesome ingredients” to those who meander and work in Uptown Oakland. It’s like, who gives a shit…at least it’s still in Oakland. And perhaps unlike when I walk into many a SF restaurant that opens a location in Oakland and see absolutely no representatives of long-time Oakland residents working inside, the Watts location looks like the people of Watts are actually working there. It’s nice to see an actual diverse workforce making it happen for a diverse clientele.

The Foldie | Three types of beans, lentils, grains, brown rice, jack cheese, super greens salsa.

Chef Choi wrote on his Instagram, January 6, 2016: “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”

Los Angeles’s Watts neighborhood is currently the lucky winner of receiving the first Locol, which is set to open on January 18th.

In the meantime, while we’re still waiting on our Locol, here are some photos of what we can only hope to stuff into our gobs.

Double Trouble | Fried chicken, buttermilk mayo, vinegar slaw.