A reunion of sorts at Café Adriatico in Malate

Just recently, a family reunion of sorts took place when LJC Restaurant Group celebrated its 45th anniversary at Café Adriatico Premiere, its main branch in Malate. National artists, fashion designers, newspaper editors, chefs, painters, and foodies stood shoulder-to-shoulder in its ground-floor dining area, drowning out the string trio with their laughter and stories. All of them came together to reminisce about the early years that launched the vision of the late newsman, and eventual restaurateur, Lorenzo “Larry” J. Cruz (LJC). 

The roots

“All my father wanted was to have a place where he and his friends from the media and Malacañang could hang out,” said Robbie Cruz, one of LJC’s six children. Prior to starting his restaurant chain, LJC was a newsman for The Manila Times and the Philippine Herald, eventually joining the presidential press office during the administration of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. “He just wanted to make enough profit to pay the rent and the salaries of the staff,” added Cruz.

In December 1979, LJC opened Café Adriatico, turning his former antique store into a kind of deli that served easy dishes, including sandwiches, cold cuts, and the Cruz family favorites: embutido and Chocolate Eh. For décor, LJC adorned the walls and tables with his art and antique collection. 

The staff was comprised of nine people, which included Cruz, who was Café Adriatico’s first manager. With such a small group running the place, everyone had to pull double roles. The restaurant’s first cashier, Fely Oandasan, also did the inventory and helped the wait staff at peak hours. Although now retired, she remains part of the tight-knit Café Adriatico family. 

Quickly, LJC’s “small hang-out place” earned a reputation among the Malate crowd as “the place to see and be seen,” according to Cruz.  

Coming from the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), after watching fashion shows and concerts, people would stop for a nightcap at Café Adriatico. Customers at the couturiers’ shops in the neighborhood habitually dropped by to catch up with each other. 

It didn’t matter that back in the 1980s, Café Adriatico was a one-story, 10-table restaurant. When there were no more available tables, customers would eat sitting on the hoods of their cars parked around Remedios Circle. 

Rich memories

With Café Adriatico’s regulars (and original customers) gracing LJC Group’s thanksgiving celebration, the night was filled with lots of fond memories. 

Celebrity couturier Albert Andrada remembered how it felt to see superstars pass through Café Adriatico’s doors. “Café Adriatico helped shape who I am today,” he told PhilSTAR L!fe. “It had a lot of celebrity regulars, like Nora Aunor and Dolphy, and a lot of fashion designers like Barge Ramos, Mike dela Rosa, Ernie Santiago. This place was like a second home to all of us.”

It’s exactly how National Artist for Dance Alice Reyes feels. “This was a safe haven for all of us—audiences, artists, dancers, choreographers, musicians, writers, painters. We all gathered here when the curtains came down and the exhibits ended to wine, dine, smoke, and drink like we didn’t have livers to worry about,” she said.

Chef and artist Claude Tayag, credited LJC and Café Adriatico for jumpstarting his culinary and visual arts career. “In November 1988, Larry invited me to be a guest cook,” he recalled. “I interpreted my paintings into edible art. That launched my career as a chef. From then on, there was no looking back. I became known as the artist who cooks.” 

Some of Tayag’s paintings from 1988 still hang on Café Adriatico’s walls. 

The LJC legacy

Among all the paintings in the restaurant, two, in particular, hold special significance for the LJC Group. One is of Emilio “Abe” Aguilar Cruz, LJC’s father; the other bears striking resemblance to his mother, Felicidad de Jesus. 

Through its exponential growth, the LJC Group opened six branches of Abé, a restaurant that honors Abe the father’s Kapampangan roots. Fely J’s, on the other hand, celebrates LJC’s mother’s favorite recipes in its three branches. 

Today, the LJC Group runs six restaurants, most of them with multiple branches: Café Adriatico, Abé, Bistro Remedios, Larry’s Café & Bar, Fely J’s, and Lorenzo’s Way. There’s also a lifestyle destination, Abe’s Farm, on the foothills of Mt. Arayat in Pampanga, and a catering service. 

Through all these developments, Café Adriatico, which itself has two branches, has successfully maintained its original vibe. This, despite the main branch’s surroundings looking (and feeling) vastly different from when it opened 45 years ago. Couture shops and artistic enclaves have been replaced by establishments with lots of glitter and lights; there are more cars on the streets around Remedios Circle; and the neighborhood has signs all around dubbing it “Manila Korea Town.”

Café Adriatico, however, is safe from all these modern transformations. “We will always keep my father’s vision of the restaurant,” said Lorna Cruz-Ambas, CEO of the LJC Group and Abe Restaurant. “We don’t want to veer away from the old-world charm he wanted for the café.”

And because of this principle, the beloved restaurant’s loyal customers are not going anywhere. 

“Malate was the center of Metro Manila night life. And for me, Adriatico was the center of Malate,” said businessman, writer, and media figure Apa Ongpin, who was once a Malate resident and a weekly Café Adriatico diner. “Adriatico is a symbol of Malate and of the persistence of the Malate ideal. I still come back here, and I’ll be coming back here as long as I’m alive.”