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Hatillo.- Of course they have their own trick! For more than 30 years, El Truco de Güin has managed to maintain its formula and, of course, the flavor that has conquered the palate of thousands of diners who have made the locale one of Hatillo’s favorites, leading to the opening of a second location.

The locale, whose main headquarters are located at Pablo J. Aguilar Avenue, guarantees good service, friendly treatment and dishes made to the customer’s taste according to its owner Wilfredo Ríos.

“We specialize in the preparation of pastrami sandwiches. But our most requested are the tripletas, like the Churrami, which is pastrami and churrasco. We have other sandwiches like the Pacotrami, which has turkey, lamb and pastrami; that sandwich is a winning combination, it’s really tasty. It’s prepared with lamb meat that we bought, turkey delight and a pastrami from Méndez and Company, exclusively for us,” said Ríos.

“I buy the bread from a bakery that makes it special for us, the San Luis bakery. We created the Truco Burger, which is made with pastrami; the Bacon Burger; the corn on the cob with mayonnaise, parmesan cheese and bacon. Wings and wraps that come out in spinach, whole wheat or regular tortillas. We also serve Mojitos, Margaritas and craft beers from the west, from the Mayagüez brewery,” added the owner. He mentioned that, due to the reception, they decided to establish a second El Truco de Güin on Highway #2, at Barrio Carrizales in Hatillo.

Most of the dishes integrate pastrami such as the Pastrami New York and the Pastrami a lo Macho, which includes egg, and Pastrami on mallorca bread. For snacks they have the parmesan corn on the cob; and pastrami tapas, which are pastrami bread toasts served with caramelized onions, mustard and ketchup. All sandwiches are served with thinly sliced fresh cabbage to please the most demanding palate.

In fact, between 100 to 125 pounds of bread are prepared daily in both establishments for the approximately 300 diners they receive.

“I have different clienteles. In town, 50% of the clientele is local and the rest travel from San Juan to Mayagüez. In other words, 50% are locals and 50% are transients. I also get people from other towns; when the Festival de las Máscaras (Festival of the Masks) comes around, we get tourists from Arabia, the Philippines, [and] China because the point of reference is El Truco de Güin. On Highway #2, 90% of the public is local,” said the business owner who has had to innovate to overcome the challenges caused by the pandemic.

To this end, he has transformed the festive family atmosphere of both places by introducing amenities such as the so-called martes de alitas (chicken wing Tuesdays), live music with the truco stage on weekends and truco tournaments. This without ruling out making more elaborate dishes such as criollo food or a menu that includes the traditional mofongo.

But this newspaper asked, “why do they call it El Truco de Güin?” “Because when the Spaniards came from the Canary Islands they brought a game called truco (trick). When my father (Wilfredo ‘Güin’ Ríos-Navarrete) opened the business in 1989, the original one in the town center of Hatillo, they’d play truco. Hatillo had been one of those towns that had adopted this game that’s played with Spanish briscas. They played truco there and when he opened the business he called it ‘El Truco de Güin’,” explained the business owner.

El Truco de Güin is open to the public Sunday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., as well as weekends.