The city of Hatillo is the heart of Puerto Rico’s dairy industry as well as the site of an annual masked parade every December. A new Puerto Rican restaurant in East Hartford named in tribute to the city is owned by a Hatillo native.
Eva Rivera’s origins can be seen in the store’s décor. A cow is Hatillo’s logo and little cows are scattered throughout the small restaurant, along with parade hats and little masks like those worn at the parade. One wall of the dining room is covered with photographs of Puerto Rican landmarks and iconic Puerto Ricans, such as Roberto Clemente. The other wall is covered with photos from Hatillo’s Festival de las Máscaras.
A TV above the kitchen shows Spanish-language news, but if you ask the cashier, they will turn that off and turn on footage from the 2018 Festival de las Máscaras.
Rivera was the manager at Comerio, a Hartford Puerto Rican restaurant. She brought two Comerio chefs with her, Gladys Rivera (Eva’s sister) and Cristina Rivera, who is not related to the sisters. They make breakfast, lunch and dinner foods all day.
Abdiel Serrano, Eva Rivera’s nephew, who is a server at the restaurant, said the appetizers, which range from $1.50 to $5.50, are the most popular items on the menu. Traditional island favorites such as alcapurria de masa (pork-stuffed corn fritter), relleno de papa (ground beef-stuffed potato ball) and empanadillas in chicken, beef, spicy beef and pizza.
“People look for them, something quick to grab and eat,” Serrano said.
All the food is made from scratch in-house. Serrano said since opening in mid-December, the restaurant has become so popular with the locals that a few days, they have run out of food before closing time.
“We weren’t expecting so many people. But now, we know,” he said.
Other appetizers are ground beef-stuffed plantains, deep-fried cod, fried corn meal with cheese and pork-stuffed yuca fritters.
Daily entrees ($9 to $14) include chicharones (deep-fried pork chunks); beef stew; fried, breaded or chopped steak; fried or breaded pork chops; shrimp; snapper; and octopus salad.
The soup options ($6 to $9.50) change daily, with offerings including tripe mofongo, ham hock stew, shrimp soup and seafood soup. Each day has a special ($12) with choices such as stewed pork chops with split peas, stewed goat with lima beans, chickpeas and veal with Vienna sausage rice, cod salad with boiled bananas and chicken stew w($4 to $9); sides such as boiled bananas, fried fish, pork kabobs, hog gizzards and morcilla sausage ($2.75 to $8); and egg-based breakfasts with tortillas on the side ($4.50 to $7).
All food is available for eat-in or takeout. Because the price of takeout containers has increased drastically, the restaurant charges 50 cents more per dish for takeout food.
“We thought 50 cents was reasonable. We didn’t want to overdo it,” Serrano said.
Although Hatillo is the newest restaurant in town, it has made its mark in the community. It is the restaurant sponsor of a team in the Los Amigos Softball League. “They just opened and they’re helping us out,” said the team’s manager, Jonathan Pacheco.
Hatillo, at 245 Silver Lane in East Hartford, is open Monday to Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. facebook.com/HatilloRestaurant.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
