Image: Naomi Tomky
A little green man sitting in a spaceship graces the outside of Pedrito’s Pizzas Locas’ boxes, holding a slice of pizza and wearing a comically oversized sombrero. The roadside trailer in Des Moines has fun with the extraterrestrial on its graphics and social media, but while their branding implies they come from another world, they are very much of this one. Specifically, the one where the American melting pot of cultures simmers with culinary inspiration drawn from across the border, merging two of the country’s greatest immigrant cuisine success stories into a single dish.
The menu that reads like that of a trendy taqueria, with oxtail birria, carne asada, and crispy chicharrónes, but there’s not a tortilla in sight: these are all pizzas. Sure, you can order a classic pepperoni or Hawaiian pie, but why would you, when there are jalapeños, salsa verde, and “pig beans”?
The trend of traditional taco fillings as pizza toppings has been slow to make it to Seattle. Two decades ago, I spent a summer snacking on the al pastor toppings while working at a family friend’s pizzeria in central Mexico; The New York Times covered the trend via Philadelphia back in 2022.
The following year, brothers Jesus and Daniel Ayala bought the Des Moines trailer that previously housed (the also excellent) Pizza Addict. After realizing the blazing wood-fired oven scorched the gorditas they planned to cook in it, they pivoted. Same flavors, new vehicle.
Image: Naomi Tomky
Pedrito’s Pizzas Locas are not designed to appease the Neapolitan fanatics nor the sourdough snobs. The medium-thick crust is sturdy, built to withstand the weight of the toppings—carne asada has more heft than a slice of pepperoni—and probably give the occasional interstellar traveler a ride, too. The roaring oven cooks it quickly enough to bless the edges with a gentle char that cradles quesabirria or carne asada fries and holds up to the green salsa or beans swapped in for tomato sauce through a drive home. (Though a smattering of chairs and a picnic table on a thick square of green turf invites customers to stay a while, the staff happily delivers pizzas to customers waiting in their cars during gloomier weather.)
Pizza lends itself well to this kind of culinary fusion, serving as a blank slate to be painted upon with flavor. Local mini-chain Can Am Pizza has been serving tandoori chicken, veggie paneer, and other Indian dishes in pizza form since 1999. At least a half-dozen other places in town serve something similar. This spring, Pizzas Locas paid homage to that style, creating its own tandoori chicken pizza, with one small Mexican added touch—jalapeños. A gentle, piquant reminder to expand our pizza universe.
