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Peruvian Street Food Comes to Downtown Hollywood
Private development and a beautiful new streetscape may be stirring up some dust in Downtown Hollywood, but for Giovanna Troullier, owner of Tru Point Burgers & Peruvian Fast Food at 201 N. 21st Avenue, they churned up opportunity.
“I had passed this building many times, and always thought it would be a great place for my future restaurant,” said Troullier, who came to Florida from Peru in 2017, “but it always had a tenant.”
Until the day the “For Lease” sign appeared. “That’s my place,” said Troullier. And soon after, it was.
Within a few weeks, Troullier, assisted by friends, family and her wife, Flavia Figari, who assists her at Tru Point, got to work. They put in a new floor, painted, added some bar games and Star Wars-themed graphics (Troullier is a big SW fan — the sub-heading of their logo is “May the Taste be With You!”) and, happily, kept the site’s original glass bricks. They were ready to open for business.
TruPoint’s unique combination of American and Peruvian staples was an immediate hit.
“People came for the hamburgers and discovered the Peruvian flavors,” said Troullier, “and then they started coming for the salchipapas and they told their friends, and now we have people coming from all over South Florida because we have the most authentic salchipapas in town.”
Salchipapas, for the uninitiated, are a popular Peruvian snack or street food, with a base of french fries topped with meat or chicken and a variety of Peruvian sauces; it’s the food Peruvians crave after a long day’s work or a long night out. It is, Troullier said, the most popular item on the menu ($11.90 – $15.90), followed by butifarra, a sandwich of Peruvian-style ham with a mix of sauces ($12.90). Also very popular is the Royal Burger, an Angus burger with ham, provolone, fried egg, potato sticks and onion ($13.90).
“I decided to open in Downtown Hollywood because I noticed the many new developments in the area and knew there would be a built-in customer base,” explained Troullier. “Tru Point is a healthy and fresh restaurant for all ages, and it’s family-friendly too.””
“There are many Peruvian restaurants around, but not with the street food that is very common in Peru,” added Figari. “And especially, they tell us, the salchipapas!”
Tru Point Burgers & Peruvian Fast Food is open Thursday from 2 pm to 11 pm, and Friday to Monday from noon to 11 pm. They are closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Carryout and delivery are available up to a half-hour before closing.
For more information, or to make a reservation or place an order, please visit www.trupointflorida.com or call 786-690-0789.
Downtown Hollywood offers on-street metered parking for $1.50 per hour, as well as municipal garage parking for $1 per hour. Municipal garage located at 251 S. 20th Avenue (between Harrison Street and Van Buren Street).
For more information about redevelopment projects, businesses, new investment, and streetscape improvements in Hollywood’s Downtown and Beach Districts, call the Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) at 954-924-2980 or visit www.HollywoodCRA.org.
