(photo: Cassidy Dawn Graves)
Though “Gringo-Mex” spot San Loco left their East Village home of 31 years in 2017 due to a rent increase, folks hungry for Guaco Locos and margaritas could still get their fill at San Locos in the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, and a location at 582 Bushwick Avenue that opened right before the Second Avenue location shut their doors. Now, that latest addition has also ceased operations. Its windows have been papered over and an employee at the Lower East Side store confirms it has closed.
While other San Loco locations (San Lo-cations?) have a fair amount of seating room, the outpost near the Myrtle-Broadway JMZ was much smaller, making it more of a grab-and-go spot than a place your friend group could hunker down for a mess of cheese and beans after a night of partying. They also did not have a bar.
“Our biggest hope is that our customers will venture out of their normal routine and come and visit us at the other locations,” San Loco’s owner Jill Hing told Bedford + Bowery when their East Village closing was announced, yet it appears that this smaller one may have not quite made the cut.
San Loco wasn’t the only place in Bushwick for Mexican food with a decidedly American (read: California- or Texas-inspired) twist. Lucha Lucha, which has locations in Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, offers massive California-style burritos stuffed with French fries alongside beans, meat (or tempeh, for the vegetarians), guac, and crema. And, lest we forget, there’s always good old Taco Bell waiting for you on Flushing Avenue, or at a new “cantina” location on Broadway and Gates Avenue that’s slated to serve alcohol in the near future.