LoKal, the Coconut Grove spot known for its burgers and beer, is closing for good.
LoKal
For 15 years, Matt Kuscher’s LoKal served up burgers and beers in Coconut Grove, a laid-back, neighborhood gathering spot with plenty of comfort food and zero pretension.
Now, LoKal, part of Kuscher’s Kush Hospitality Group, is closing for good, another victim of rising rents.
Kuscher announced the news on his Instagram account, saying that he and his team would have loved to have stayed longer, but “the rents were raised 50 percent.”
“It’s no longer sustainable as a business,” he said in the post. “So as much as we’d love to be here, we just can’t do it. Fifteen years for a restaurant is a huge accomplishment, and we’re really proud of our team.”
LoKal, which opened on Christmas Eve in 2011 at 3190 Commodore Plaza, was Kush Hospitality’s first home, “the place where it all began,” Kuscher said. The restaurant was founded on the principle of sustainability, proudly touting the fact that it was the first restaurant in Miami-Dade to use 100 percent clean and renewable energy from solar and wind power.
Lokal drew packs of friends, couples on dates, families with kids. Along with its former sister restaurant The Spillover, it hosted “yappy” hour with Kuscher and his wife Priscilla, complete with dog treats and served as a comfortable hang out spot for everyone.
“LoKal has always been more than a restaurant,” Kuscher said in the video, adding that he’s seen little kids grow into college students at the restaurant. “It’s been a gathering place for stories and the center for connections.”
LoKal owner Matt Kuscher in 2012 at the neighborhood restaurant, just a year after it opened in Commodore Plaza in Coconut Grove.
As LoKal quietly winds down — the restaurant will close this summer, so there are still a few months to visit the Grove location — another Kush Hospitality project will arise. After four years of construction, Kush Wynwood returns this summer. Kush Hospitality owns the building it is housed in, and the space will not only include Kush restaurant but also a bar with a liquor license, commercial space, even affordable housing, Kuscher says.
The staff from LoKal will move to the new restaurant once it’s open.
“We want to be a Miami staple, an iconic place for the next 50 years and beyond,” Kuscher said.
Connie Ogle loves wine, books and the Miami Heat. Please don’t make her eat a mango.