Mezcal Spotlight: Trino Restaurante

By Jonathan Lockwood

Oskar Vásquez, 42, is a deeply spiritual man. So spiritual that I found myself getting mesmerized by his explanations of tonas and nahuales.

This was by far the longest interview I’ve conducted in this Mezcal Spotlight series. But when you’re sitting with someone who speaks of mezcal as a living spirit, intertwined with the same unseen forces that shape our lives, you don’t interrupt. Before you know it, hours slip by unnoticed. Oskar, along with his family, owns and operates Trino Restaurante. It’s so close to El Secreto and the adjoining communities, you might imagine you know it. But it’s actually a secluded area within an eco-village named Villa Parajitos.

The family hails from Cuicatlán, a district well north of Oaxaca City. Oskar’s first career was in construction and architecture. Later it was in arts and industrial design. But the culture of mezcal was always part of his life. Life was about working hard, but rewarding the body with a little mezcal at the end of the workday.

His mother was originally from Guanajuato, and Oskar planted roots in the area in 2015. Papá had been in the restaurant business for 40 years, but brought his expertise to Trino Restaurante when it opened in October 2024. The menu is fully seasonal. I started with a magnificent chile relleno with rice, followed it up with a chuleta topped with apple and mashed potatoes, then finished things off with a cochinita pibil tostada exploding with flavor!

Several friends from all over the world bought into the eco-village. Solar power, rainwater capture, deep consciousness about minimizing waste… Villa Parajitos is all about living naturally.

Oskar is clearly proud of his Cuicatlan heritage. He explains that the district’s name comes from a pre-Hispanic term that means “the place where songs are made.” Many believe human language evolved from the singing of birds. Thus the name, Trino, which means birdsong, and also Villa Parajitos (Village of Little Birds.) He referred to the most common endemic agave as the Cuicateco, but acknowledged it’s the local name for the Papalometl. Agave nomenclature can be very regional, but mostly these plants are believed to be Tobalá. I’ve often wondered why they don’t quite seem to taste like the Tobalás I’m familiar with from other regions.

From what I’ve read, it seems that both Tobalá and Cupreata grow in this area, so although Cupreata has a much different flavor profile, it may still be called Papalometl or Tobalá. Now the area is full of hybrids of both of them, which are also called Papalometl. I guess that’s why it always confuses my tastebuds. Admitting he also enjoys a nice Cenizo and an elegant Jabalí, Oskar still considers the Cuicateco his favorite mezcal. He brought me some, serving it with a glass venencia, which involves using mouth suction to bring the mezcal into the venencia. There you can observe the perlas, or bubbles, that give us an idea of the quality of the spirit, before releasing into your drinking vessel.

He had plenty of delicious distillations to share, and I was getting rather toasty from them during this good long interview.

The first time my wife and I visited, Oskar also performed a little ceremony that involved our sipping from a mezcal and smearing some of it onto pieces of fibrous paper. Oskar then placed these papers onto a grill, and we watched while certain shapes came to the fore. From a Zapotec reference book, he then matched our shape to a certain tona, or protective spirit animal we were assigned at birth. But this time I learned there are even more rituals Trino Restaurante has to share. By the time this is published, their Semana de las Ánimas will almost be at its end unfortunately. But they hold workshops every day of such events on Mexican spirituality.

I told you Oskar was a very spiritual man. Right up till the end of our time together he was still talking dreamily about spirits. The ones we drink and the ones that guide us. I didn’t fully understand everything he meant. But I didn’t need to. The mezcal — and the experience of listening to the man — said enough.

If you’re curious to experience that same blend of spirit, flavor, and philosophy, Trino Restaurante and its mezcalería await — tucked among the little birds of Villa Parajitos.

Jonathan Lockwood is a Mezcal lover, explorer, and collector and writes the Mezcal Maniac Substack. mezcalmaniac.substack.com