When Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson opened their first location of Locol in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, they hoped to bring a healthier fast food alternative at an affordable price. Fast forward a few years later, and the restaurant face of Locol has transitioned to a focus on catering while Choi works on developing Locol 2.0.

The chain had its obstacles, including significant drops in foot traffic over time and a particularly controversial zero-star review from the New York Times. As a result, money eventually ran out, as Choi explained on Twitter when the retail side shifted to catering. However, the question still existed as to why Locol had the problems it did. What could it do better in its next iteration?

Restaurateur Keith Garrett, the "Quesadilla Kingpin" of Watts and owner of viral sensation All Flavor No Grease, had some thoughts to share on the subject. As part of his conversation with Foodbeast's Elie Ayrouth and Geoff Kutnick on The Katchup Podcast, he gave his take on what Locol was missing that the neighborhood wanted to see.

Garrett had almost nothing but praise for Choi's concept and mission behind Locol. "Great guy, the building was beautiful, location was cool, prices were great!" he said on what people in the community thought. "You got an Asian guy that just opened up smack in the dead middle of Watts? Ooh, he hard for that! He gotta have heart! Let's go see what the food do. So then you go in there, you see the whole staff is from the housing project and community over there... You're like 'Shit, let's go support, let's go see!'"

According to Garrett, all of Choi's employees came from the projects, if not from Watts proper, then from nearby neighborhoods where he offered folks a chance to come together. It was an incredible undertaking and a project that opened up new possibilities for a community sorely in need of it.

From @RidingShotgunLA: RT @welocol: WATTS UP!!! pic.twitter.com/8LTQE5SJ4w
— LocoL (@welocol) October 18, 2017

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