Ten years ago at the MAD Symposium in Copenhagen, chefs Roy Choi (Kogi BBQ) and Daniel Patterson (Coi) announced LocoL, a wild concept aimed at addressing food security in South Los Angeles. Speaking to the who’s who of the restaurant world gathered by noma’s René Redzepi, the duo pitched the room on providing high-integrity food at McDonald’s prices to the masses. The name was a mashup from the Spanish word “loco” (crazy) and “local,” with the original business model promising menu items below $6 with seasonal, well-sourced ingredients while providing jobs to the local community. The duo opened their first location in Watts, Los Angeles with much fanfare followed by two more locations in the San Francisco Bay Area– one in Oakland and another inside of a San Jose Whole Foods. After three years, the team ran out of money and shuttered all of its locations, keeping its flagship Watts brick and mortar as a catering business. Two weeks ago, LocoL Watts re-emerged as a non-profit restaurant aimed at hiring and training local residents who have the opportunity to enter a manager training program that will put them on a track to co-owning and launching for-profit outposts of their own. This week, HNGRY schlepped 15 miles down to Watts to sit down with Co-Founder Keith Corbin (pictured above with Patterson) and see what’s cooking.