The El Pato Loco Pizza at San Pedro Cafe

Amy Rea / Heavy Table
Amy Rea / Heavy Table

It was on one of the many recent frigid days that we stopped by the cheerful, boisterous (and very warm) San Pedro Cafe in Hudson. There were many tempting Caribbean items on the menu — jerk chicken, Cuban meatloaf — but when we asked our server what she’d recommend, she pointed to the wood-fired pizza column of the menu. Pizza isn’t the first thing you’d think of ordering at a Caribbean restaurant, but she assured us we wouldn’t regret it.

She was right. The El Pato Loco ($13) came on a delicate, crackerlike crust topped with a heady mixture of sweet and spicy — a soft marinara sauce, sweet corn in chunks that looked like they’d just been sliced off a cob, and a slightly sweet smoked duck breast paired with a generous serving of jalapeños, zippy pepperoni, and an “it catches up to you” habanero aioli. Lots of pieces and parts, flavors and textures, that equaled a much better whole than might have been expected.

San Pedro Cafe, 426 2nd St, Hudson, WI, 54016; 715.386.4003; Mon-Thu 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sat 8 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun 8 a.m.-10 p.m.

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