Another ‘miracle’ on EDSA

Imagine this: a glass-encased restaurant nestled in a frame of steel bars rising 18 storeys high. The steel frame, actually the mammoth structure on which a cluster of billboard stands, is the cradle of Café Lupe, the first restaurant in the world to have a billboard as an address.

Still it is not only its steel foundation that makes Café Lupe unique. It is next door to the San Carlos Seminary in Guadalupe on EDSA and overlooks the Pasig River, a stretch of EDSA and an MRT station.

"This is the only place from where the view of EDSA is breathtaking, especially at night," gushes publicist Brad Geiser, one of Café Lupe’s habitués. I agree. It is the only place where EDSA looks like it underwent a makeover.

I paid a visit to Café Lupe once and from where I stood, the Guadalupe bridge looked as majestic as the Brooklyn Bridge. Away from the haze of the vehicle-choked highway that leads to the bridge, one can actually appreciate the beauty of Guadalupe.

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Alvin Carranza, the dynamic Ilonggo who thought of the concept, actually thinks Café Lupe’s main attraction is not its steel scaffolding, but a larger-than-life-statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The statue, shipped from Mexico City, stands on a knoll separating the 2,500-sq. meter Café Lupe grounds from the seminary. Alvin, a devotee of the Virgin of Guadalupe (one of his daughters is named after her), says that on weekends, newly married couples and couples with children in tow trek through a stone path that winds from the restaurant to the statue. There, they offer prayers and petitions.

"I think of this a blessed place," says Alvin. "It’s protected against malas."

Alvin makes a regular pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, the second most visited basilica in the world, next to the St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

Alvin, of course, hopes that people will be making pilgrimages of their own to Café Lupe, with appetites that pay homage to the Mexican Food (with an Ilonggo spin).

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But once inside the restaurant, the margaritas are said to be so good and heady they make men (not the seminarians at the nearby San Carlos) see apparitions of virgins. Café Lupe has seven kinds of the Mexican cocktail–Sky Blue margarita, Jamaican Paradise, Rambo margarita (this one’s a killer in size, so make sure you share it).

The novelty of the restaurant’s location, and the many side stories about it may initially distract you (as it did me) from another of its major attractions–the food.

Maritess Gutierrez (Gloria Romero’s only daughter) is Café Lupe’s executive chef. Her bestsellers are the quesadillas and fajitas. But since Filipinos also somehow look for Filipino food, there are all-time favorites like seafood kare-kare, pollo inasal (served with Mexican salsa instead of achara).

In the end, whether you go to Café Lupe for the view, the novelty of its location, the food, the margaritas or the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe, you’re in for a unique experience.

You can even pray for a miracle.

The Philippines’ fruitcake lady

After 28 years of making delicious fruitcakes for discriminating Filipinos, it should come as no surprise that Ju.D Lao, the Philippines’ fruitcake lady, whose fruitcakes have gone to Taiwan, Singapore, India, Belgium, Germany and the US, would find other ways to promote Philippine ingredients as well.

For the last two years, Ju.D Lao has sparked interest from as far away as Amsterdam in our local atchuete, as segment host of the TV program Modern Vegetarian Cooking, broadcast in Taiwan’s Da-Ai station and also in the US, Europe and Asia.

And the latest feather in Ju.D’s cap is her own cookbook, Western Vegetarian Food, which is sold in Taiwan. Her two latest endeavors were in collaboration with the Tzu-Chi Charity Foundation headed by Buddhist nun Dharma Master Cheng Yen, a 1991 Magsaysay awardee. The Tzu Chi Foundation focuses on charity work in medicine, education and culture. They have conducted some 37 medical missions all over the Philippines since 1995.

Ju.D’s has done her show and cookbook on a purely voluntary basis, receiving no monetary compensation for them. She considers them enjoyable, though, and at the same time, she is doing something good.

Ju.D has sold her fruitcakes every Christmas for 28 years. They are bought by many celebrities, politicians, businessmen, and even commuters who love her Chewy Chewkies!

Ju.D’s innovation has opened many options for the consumer, whether it’s for the Ju.D Fruitcake Red (using her original recipe), Ju.D Fruitcake Gold (which is two toned–dark and light), or Ju.D Fruitcake Blue (coffee flavored, favored by her Japanese clients).

With the Christmas season, you may want to avail of Ju.D’s delicious fruitcakes which use all natural ingredients, cooked under the careful guidance of her skilled hands.

For fruitcake par excellence, please call tel. nos. 633-0260 or 633-1188.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected])