Restaurateur Adam Fleischman and his culinary venture company AdVantage Restaurant Partners will pair an unexpected flavor with fried chicken.

ChocoChicken, a fast-casual concept that serves chocolate-flavored fried chicken, is set to open in a roughly 80-seat, 2,500-square-foot location in March at 12th Street and Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, a few blocks from Staples Center.

The chicken will not be dipped in chocolate sauce after it is cooked. Instead, Fleischman said the flavor will be set in through a breading, rubbing and 24-hour marinating process.

“I think people are curious to see what we did,” Fleischman said. “They think we’re going to spray Hershey’s chocolate onto it. It’s definitely not dessert.”

Chicken has long been paired with other foods, of course. Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles introduced Los Angeles to the odd combination of chicken and waffles 39 years ago, for example. The idea for chocolatized chicken came from Fleischman’s partners at AdVantage, Sean Robins and Keith Previte, during a brainstorming session. Fleischman said Robins is a fried chicken enthusiast who traveled the country trying out different variations of the comfort food.

“They had a flash of inspiration and had a vision for it,” Fleischman said.

The restaurant will serve items that complement its chocolatecentric menu, including white chocolate mashed potatoes and bacon-flavored biscuits. The restaurant will have lunch and dinner, and serve alcohol.

Fleischman said ChocoChicken has the potential to go international – like his Umami Burger brand.

“Fried chicken is popular globally, and we can do a lot more with it,” he said.

– Justin Yang