ALING LUCING “The
Sisig Queen”
The woman who, in 1974,
gave her name to her modest Angeles restaurant and catapulted
“sisig” to national prominence was born Lucia “Lucing” Lagman in Tarlac. A good
cook, Lucing experimented with innovating “sisig”, a favorite Kapampangan dish
made from chopped parts of a pig’s ears, liver, chopped onions, calamansi,
vinegar and spices and served on a sizzling platter. Her Aling Lucing’s Sisig
earned a multitude of patrons from even outside the city, that soon attracted national media attention. Dubbed as the “Sisig Queen”, Aling Lucing’s food business helped establish Angeles as the “Sisig Capital of the
Philippines”. Her business had not even reached its maximum potential when Aling Lucing was found bludgeoned to death on 16 April 2008. Husband Victorino
Cunanan, reputed to be a gambler, was tagged as a suspect. At present, there
are Aling Lucing’s Sisig restaurants run by relatives in Pampanga, plus branches
in Makati, Pasig and Aklan—all serving different sisig versions. From an
appetizer, the Kapampangan sisig had graduated to being staple feature for many
landmark occasions.
CABALEN Restaurant
Back in the 1970s,
Maritel O. Nievera used to help run the family food business called
“Bahay Pasalubong” in San Matias, Santo Tomas, Pampanga. It achieved a measure
of success , so she and her sister Beth, were encouraged to open a small kiosk
at SM City North EDSA in 1986 selling various
Kapampangan delicacies. Five years later, the Pinatubo eruption occurred. Holding
fast to her faith in the future of her embattled province, she initiated a
drive to make San Fernando a showcase of successful recovery by putting up “Ituro Mo, Iluto Mo”, a
restaurant that promises every guest a
classy Kapampangan dining experience. It proved to be a hit. She then went
further by establishing Cabalen, the first Kapampangan specialty restaurant
chain in Manila, captivating discriminating food lovers with authentic native
cooking and signature dishes from the province. Through her fine restaurants,
Nievera continues to promote widescale interest for Pampanga’s culinary arts,
while showcasing the Kapampangan woman in her best light. Today, the “Queen of
Filipino Buffet” , with her Cabalen Group, is on its 30th year of
bringing the best of Pampanga’s cuisine to the Philippines.
EVERYBODY’S CAFÉ
Everybody’s Café and its ubiquitous diner-inspired sign
has become a San Fernando landmark, and a favorite stop for many travelers
passing by the city along MacArthur Highway. The idea to open a roadside
café was conceived by couple Benito M. Santos and Carmen Nogoy during the 40s.
A friend suggested a neutral name that’s neither pro-American nor pro-Japanese--”Everybody’s
Café”. The Santoses started with 10 tables in a a space along the newly opened
Consunji St. with a menu that included merienda items like pancit luglug and 30
centavo mami soup. By the 1950s, it gained a reputation as a favorite eating
place of Diosdado Macapagal before going to his miting de avance. In 1967, a
second Everybody’s Café building was put up and through the years, the list of
customers expanded—from Pampanga High and Assumption students to Dña. Aurora
Aquino, Pres. Cory Aquino and her children, Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo an
showbiz celebrities. Everybody’s Café is known for introducing to a nation such
special Kapampangan treats as “adobung kamaru” (mole crickets) a perennial
bestseller of the house, betute (stuffed frogs), taba ng talangka, paku salad,
morcon (Kris Aquino’s favorite), lumpiang papaya, tsokolateng binatirul and leche
flan made of gatas damulag (carabao’s milk). Currently, Everybody's Cafe is operated by the
Santos daughter, Mrs. Petronila Jorolan with the help of children Pocholo,
Pamela, Kristine and Ma. Carmina. It has been true to its name through its long
years of existence—it is indeed, a place for everybody!
HIZON’S CAKES AND
PASTRIES
Hizon’s Cakes
& Pastries on Bocobo Street in Ermita, Manila was founded by Inocencia
Hizon, a widowed single mother who worked as a department store clerk at
Aguinaldo’s, Escolta. The Hizons have roots in Mexico. Family lore has it that
the now-famous ensaymada recipe was given to her by an anonymous woman.
Inocencia baked dozens of ensaymadas using the recipe, and engaged the help of
her sister to peddle the pastries in offices, which, to her surprise, were all
sold-out. This
encouraged her to put up a bakeshop which she named simply as “Hizon’s”, on Raon
St. Today, Hizon’s has branches in Pasay, Greenhills and Makati, run by
daughter Milagros Ramos Roasa. The shop, regarded as an institution, (it was the late Dolphy's favorite hang-out place), is also famous for its taisans, apple pies and
ube cakes, but the ensaymada remains a sentimental favorite.
HIZON CATERING
The country’s leading off-premise caterer specializing in
weddings, private parties and corporate events was started in 1987 by Baby
Hizon, a Kapampangan from Concepcion, Tarlac. She parlayed her interest in
culinary arts into an successful enterprise that began as a backyard business
–catering to relatives and friends. She
was soon being sought after to cater
birthdays, weddings, debuts and other special occasions. After three decades, Baby’s , Hizon’s
Catering has served over 14,543 weddings, 5,673 corporate clients, and 3,653
private events with its nearly three decades of experience. With son Joseph as
current general manager, and assisted by eldest son, David, an
American-trained chef, Hizon’s Catering has grown into a modern operations
housed in a fully equipped 2,500-square meter commissary in Quezon City. Plans
for the future include growing the business by about 15-20 percent a year,
tapping the corporate and children’s events segment, while maintaining its hold on the wedding
catering market.
LJC RESTAURANTS
Larry J. Cruz, the son of renaissance man, writer and
artist Emilio Aguilar Cruz of Magalang, is the founder of LJC Chain of
Restaurants, beginning with Café Adriatico—a small café in Malate, that was
put up in 1979. Cruz, a journalist, virtually had no experience in running
restaurants, but his little café made waves—what with its good food, efficient
service and a vintage ambiance that appealed to artists, celebrities,
politicos, celebrities and people from the corporate world. Café Adriatico
inspired the openings of cafes around the country. Today, despite Larry’s
passing in 2008, the LJC Restaurants have expanded to include the management
and operations of food outlets like Abe,
Abe Farm, Fely J’s Kitchen, Lorenzo’s Way, Café Havana, Larry’s Café and Bar
and Polka Dot Bakeshop.
MANGAN
Cabalen paved the way for the establishments of other
Kapampangan restaurants. San Fernando born and bred Ricco Ocampo, owner of
several lifestyle stores (“Sari-Sari”),
diversified into the food business and opened “Mangan”, an authentic
Kapampangan culture restaurant , to complement his earlier “Kitchen”, both in Manila malls. Every dish
should only be cooked upon order,” says Ocampo, “Cooking everything in the
morning and reheating them during lunch and dinner betrays the essence of real
Kapampangan cooking. Mangan, an all-day, casual restaurant, also serves
merienda items such as puto bumbong, bibingka and halo-halo, Guagua style, with
lots of leche flan, sweet bananas and macapuno. Complementing his Mangan Restaurant is Ebun, Kusinang Pinoy, at Greenbelt in Makati.
MEKENI FOOD CORP.
What started as a home-based chicharon and tocino
business for couple Felix M. Garcia and Medica L. Santos is now—after 3
decades—a highly successful, giant processed meat enterprise called Mekeni Food
Corporation. At the start, the promising meat business gave the Garcia couple supplemental
income to send their five boys to school. Luckily, the boys found various
employments abroad after college. But when the 1991 Pinatubo eruption wrought
damage to their business, the Garcia sons came home to help their parents
rebuild the business. With the help of
30 employees, Mekeni was fully restored with greater success. Not only did the
company bounced back from the calamity, but it also gave employment
opportunities to a community of people who lost much in the aftermath of the
eruption. Its flagship brands include the Mekeni line of cured tocino, tapa and
longganisa produced in its world-class plant in Balubad, Porac. It also
produces the popular Picnic premium brand of hotdogs and a host of other treats
like Spicy Pork Barbecue, Corned Beef, Nuggets, Beef Teriyaki, Kikiam and Squid Balls. Recently, Mekeni Food
Corp. celebrated “30 Years of Uplifting
Filipino Lives”.
PAMPANGA’S BEST
Pampanga’s Best is the most well-known meat processing
corporation that has been giving the Philippines and the world a taste of our renowned
tocino, longganisa, tapa, bacon, hotdogs, embotido, barbecue, burger patties,
nuggets, and more, for over 4 decades now. It was founded by Mrs. Lolita O.
Hizon of San Fernando, who helped her neighbor—a meat dealer-- in preserving
her leftover meats. Mrs. Hizon cured the
meat by improving and refining on the traditional process of fermenting
Kapampangan “pindang” that is endowed with a delectable salty-sweet taste. The
result is her famous “tocino” products
that would form the core of ber Pampanga’s Best business, now a multi-million
peso venture personally run by her family, including her 12 children. “Always
the best—from Pampanga’s Best”, so goes the company motto, a promise that the
Hizons vowed to keep in response to the loyal patronage their meat brands enjoy
to this day.
RAZON’S
The famous Razon's chain of halo-halo shops began as a
small "refreshment parlor" at the Razon home in a Guagua subdivision.
It was put up in 1972 by the Razon siblings: Virginia, Severina, Elena and
Roger, and catered mostly to residents and local students. But the merienda
items—particularly the pancit and the delectably smooth Razon’s halo-halo soon
became the talk-of-the-town. Tourists began flocking to the Razon’s Guagua
home, moreso when foodie writer Doreen Fernandez discovered it and wrote about
“the best halo-halo in the world”. Surprisingly, Razon’s halo-halo only had 3
ingredients—sweet macapuno, sagin na saba, and leche flan. With the death of
the siblings, the business flourished,
through several incarnations of the Razon’s refreshment shop ran by
relatives. One niece, Luz Razon-Cabrera operates
3 Razon’s stores. Her sister-in-law in San Fernando owns Teresita’s, which,
according to the proprietor, makes halo-halo from the only original recipe
approved by Virginia Razon. The first Razon’s of Guagua, owned by Razon Food
Corp., opened on 8 July 2003 at the Food Court of Robinson’s Galleria. This
chain has over 66 branches in Manila, as of 15 April 2016.
RED RIBBON BAKE
SHOP
Amalia Hizon of Mexico, together with husband Renato
Mercado, put up a little cake shop called Red Ribbon that drew praises for its
cakes and pastries. They set up their first shop in 1978 along Timog Ave. in
Quezon City. In a matter of years, the cake shop gained a substantial
following, and in 1984, it opened a U.S. outlet. The bakeshop was popular for its chocolate
cake, blueberry cheesecake, black forest cake, ensaymada, empanada and mamon.
It was no wonder then that Jollibee Food Corp. acquired the business in 2005.
One of the fastest-growing bakeshop chain in the country, Red Ribbon has over
370 outlets all over the Philippines and some 33 stores in US with locations in
California, Nevada, Washington, Hawaii, New York, New Jersey and Virginia.
SUSIE’S CUISINE
Susie’s Cuisine has become a household name in Pampanga,
a favorite go-to place for the most delicious Filipino
kakanins or native
delicacies like
bibingkang nasi (rice cake),
tibuk-tibuk (maja blanca), kalame,
aleyang ube, sapin-sapin and
moche. Began in the 1970s as a
carinderia by Mrs.
Anicia Ayson, she named her stall after her adopted daughter Jesusa “Susie Ayson-Yabut, an Amerasian
abandoned by her father. In time, Mrs. Ayson started adding native kakanins and
pasalubong items to her offering, due to consumer demand. Her bestseller turned
out to be her
“tibuk-tibuk”, a creamy, delicate pudding made from pure carabao’s
milk. Eventually, Susie Ayson-Yabut took over the business, which suffered a
setback when Pinatubo erupted in 1991. Yabut and husband Glenn moved to Manila,
and after earning enough capital, they returned to Angeles to re-open
Susie’s
Cuisine, with an expanded menu, and additional local treats like
saniculas,
araro, polvoron, turrones de casuy, brownies,
okoy and
bobotu. To date, there
are about 15
Susie’s Cuisine branches in Central Luzon, raking in up to P5
million during its peak months.
LAPID’S CHICHARON
& BARBECUE
D’Original R. Lapid’s Chicharon & Barbecue is rputed
to be the largest producer of chicharon in the country today. It was started
way back in 1974 as a “kainan” (eatery) by Rey Lapid, then age 23, a
transplanted Kapampangan, whose father Frederico Sr. owned a meat stall in
Quinta Market. He observed that his father’s customers would ask that the skin
be removed; his dad would just often discard the skin away.Thus, Lapid collected
the skin and ventured into chicharon-making. He perfected a recipe and began selling
his chicharon in a Quiapo stall. Slowly, but surely, Lapid’s business grew,
especially when he introduced cooking chicharon in front of customers in giant
malls like SM, Robinson’s and Landmark. It is also the first chicharon
manufacturer to use imported pork skin raw materials from U.S.A., Europe,
Canada, and Korea. Indeed, chicharon has become synonymous to Lapid's, and this cracklin' delicious snack is enjoyed all over the country, thanks to the over 100 branches of R. Lapid's
Chicharon and Barbecue in operations today!
CINDY’S BAKESHOP & RESTAURANT
Cindys—the place to be—was founded in 1971 by a group of
businessmen in Tarlac who simply envisioned a restaurant that served “good food
in a good place”. Thus was born the first Cindys store in Tarlac, that served
a standard fare of baked breads, and merienda favorites. The successful
reception to the store prompted them to
open more branches and to offer new menu items like burgers, French fries and
express meals. But it was the bakeshop that gave Cindys a competitive edge. At
its peak, Cindys was promoted through national advertising, a no mean feat for
a homegrown business. To focus on its uniqueness, Cindys re-conceptualized its product in 1996, by
opening a store that was first a bakery, and secondarily a restaurant. This
gave it an edge above the rising number of fast food joints. Today, Cindys has
over forty stores nationwide.
SOURCES:
EVERYBODY’S CAFÉ: Kasalesayan ning San Fernando
MANGAN: “Mangan is authentic ‘mekeni’ dining”.By Alex Y.
Vergara
Inquirer News Service
