May Taco Update

ß Lolo American Kitchen

Rio Loco Cantinaà

This month I ate tacos from two restaurants in my home town of Hudson, Wisconsin. (See the postscript at the end of this blog entry for information about this gem along the St. Croix River).Ya, of course fish.

1.       Lolo American Kitchen. Lolo is located at the far south end of downtown Hudson, almost to the I94 Bridge on the east side of the road. In 2017 developers built a couple of early 20^th century style buildings with a smallish parking lot tucked under the bluff there. This piece of Hudson’s progress houses a framing gallery, a salon, and Lolo’s…so far.

The restaurant is industrial/warehouse décor, but quieter than most restaurants of that type. I usually don’t prefer the loud echoes of the high ceilings that expose all of the pipes and air ducts, just because it’s so dang hard to hear the person next to me.  But, Lolo’s doesn’t seem to annoy me so much like that. It’s not a particularly large restaurant either. It has a deck, and I frequently see millennials lounging out there with a drink in their hands as I pass by to catch the ramp to I94. They’re chatting and wishing this eatery were 5 lanes closer to the water than it is.

Well, so I ate my fish tacos at Lolo with a friend who ordered Amish chicken tacos. My friend asked the waiter if Amish chickens were supposed to be more delicious than everybody else’s chickens. With a huge grin he assured her they would be the best tacos she’d ever have.  She was back a week later for the same item. I don’t like sampling the food my friends have ordered when we go out, so I’ve no idea how the Amish do what they do so well. And I am sort of a vegetarian (with the exception of fish in tacos), so I may never find out.

Confession: This was not my first rodeo with Lolo’s fish tacos. I have probably had them there four or five other times. It’s the only thing I ever order there, actually, along with an iced tea or an occasional mojito.

Why do I keep coming back for them? Because they rock. Yes they do. Here is how they make them: They start with a flour tortilla. I know what you’re thinking based on my last taco blog entry, and it’s a shame they don’t use corn. But at least theirs don’t collapse when I take a bite. The fish is grilled mahi mahi and they serve it with green chimichurri, which is a paste made from parsley, garlic, olive oil, red pepper, and wine. They add some salsa and avocado, and of course for that all important crunch they top it off with cabbage.

2.      Rio Loco Cantina. You’ll find Rio Loco smack dab in the middle of downtown Hudson and you can’t miss it. Located on the west side of the main drag, the building stands out like a turd in a punch bowl. I guess this isn’t a very good description, because the restaurant is truly delightful. See the pics I’ve posted? What I mean is that while the rest of downtown is maintained in turn-of-the-century brownstone, the architects for Rio Loco got in there and stuccoed the heck out of the facade. It’s like no other building on the strip. It is, however, very Mexican. We sat in a booth on the sidewalk side of the cantina (as opposed to the river side) and since it was a lovely spring day, they opened up their garage-door style window and we were able to reach out and high-five the passersby. Very cool indeed.

The tacos there among my favorites yet. At Rio Loco you can purchase them individually, and so I ordered two of the three kinds of fish tacos that they had on the menu: Ahi tuna and “fish”. The third was shrimp. Didn’t order that. The ahi was lightly breaded with what they describe as “sesame crusted”, but they slice the tuna on bias so that you don’t get a mouthful of sesame. Just a little of the flavor and crunch makes it perfect. They add jicama slaw and radishes. LOVE radishes on a fish taco. The ahi has a chipotle sauce, and they add cilantro as a garnish. For all that they fit into this taco, it’s actually a small plate and not too overwhelming to consume.

Their “fish” taco is a yummy one, too. It’s 50¢ cheaper. They don’t name what sort of fish it is. I can tell you that it’s not breaded or deep fried (thank Heavens). They blacken the fish and use a basting of garlic butter. Then they top it with black bean & corn salsa, cilantro, and an avocado lime sauce. Which of the two did I prefer? Couldn’t say. They were both unique, both a smaller plate, and I didn’t feel absolutely engorged afterward. I walked away a happy taco mama.

The items I did bring home in my doggy bag were the remnants of the two salsas that they served alongside the food. One was a mango sweet salsa and the other a cilantro salsa. I used them for the next couple of days on a variety of foods.

The only negative I would project about Rio Loco is that tortilla chips and salsa were not gratis. If you want those you’ll need to fork over another $8.99.

Hudson is a river town with a city population of around 14k, just across the border from Minnesota and the Twin Cities.  The greater Hudson area population is about 30k. When I moved here in 1998 (gosh! 20 years ago!) it was a well-kept secret. The city has tripled since then. Where Lolo American Kitchen is located, was back then just a hillside. Where Rio Loco is now, was an old-school bakery and café. In those days when we were allowed to feed the ducks and geese down at Lakefront Park, the bakery would offer their stale left overs in a woven container propped up on a stand called the “duck food basket”.  I would go once a week with my kiddos and we would order custom peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grab some duck food bread and head down to the park. Since then the location has been a couple of different sports bars, and finally, a Day-of-the-Dead Cantina; stucco, guitars, and calaveras galore.