Review of El Trapiche Restaurant in Guayama

El Trapiche is a rustic and typical Puerto Rican eatery located at Barrio Pozuelo #55A in Guayama. The specialty here is seafood, particularly seafood salads that practically leap straight from the sea onto the place. If you can, come on Sundays, when they serve their signature rice with jueyes, or crabmeat, and often have live music. For more info, call 787-864-7701.

For basic, authentic, and flavorful seafood, casual dining along the coast of mainland Puerto Rico is the way to go. The southern coast is one of the destinations known for its fresh fare from the sea, and places like El Trapiche in the quaint town of Guayama make for fine getaways, thanks to their tasty seafood "salads" and rustic, friendly vibe. Come for the food, and enjoy a true slice of Rican life by the water.

There are many reasons to venture out of San Juan, Ponce, and Puerto Rico's other big cities to explore the many coastal towns along the mainland. And one of those reasons is the excellent local seafood you'll find here. By seafood, I don't mean gourmet dishes prepared with a sophisticated flair like the (admittedly fantastic) cuisine you find in the capital, but rather fresh, succulent, and simply prepared fare. From roadside kiosks selling clams and oysters to waterfront eateries with a full menu of local specialties, restaurant-hopping around the coast has its rewards.

Take El Trapiche in Guayama, for example. Not a place you'll find on most tourist maps, El Trapiche is tucked away in Barrio Pozuelo, a cluster of eateries and kiosks by the water. These rustic restaurants are known and beloved for 'Rican street food like pastelillos (a crispy pastry stuffed with seafood, chicken, meat or veggies), comida criolla staples like asopao and mofongo, and above all, for their excellent seafood.

Guayama's culinary claim to fame lies in its fresh conch, octopus, and lobster (I went boating shortly before my visit to El Trapiche and found quite a few local fishermen diving for conch), and El Trapiche specializes in seafood salads; this is a generous dish of tender pieces of marinated octopus, conch, lobster, or shrimp (or a combination) with chopped tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce in a simple vinaigrette. The salads are accompanied with tostones to help you gobble it all up, and arrive so fresh and tasty that I could have happily worked my way through the entire menu without moving onto a main course. I was advised to try the pulpo del país (octopus that comes from Pozuelo), and it was outstanding.

If you crave something heartier, feel free to dive into the hearty mofongo de mariscos, or mofongo stuffed with seafood. You can also try the house lobster stuffed with seafood, filet of chillo (red snapper) or mero (grouper), or a surf 'n turf of churrasco skirt steak and lobster. They also make a mean caldo de pescado, or seafood soup.

The ambience here is typical of Porta Caribe, the touristic moniker for the island's southern coast: relaxed, rustic, friendly and no-frills. The menu is bilingual, and there's live music on weekends, mostly on Sunday when the restaurant serves up its signature rice with crabmeat. El Trapiche lets its food speak for itself, and I was certainly happy I went out of my way to get to know it. For a very different, and very cool day out, combine lunch at the restaurant with a visit to nearby Casa Cautiño, and enjoy mingling with a few friendly Guayameses.