death_place death_date birth_place birth_date known_for article_title name
washington d.c. , u.s.a. 4 february 2008 philippines 17 september 1941 founder of ljc restaurant group larry cruz
 larry j. cruz
larry cruz

lorenzo `` larry '' j. cruz -lrb- september 17 , 1941 -- february 4 , 2008 -rrb- was a filipino restaurateur who founded the ljc restaurant group , which operates several restaurants in the philippines .
among the restaurants he established through the ljc group were `` café adriatico '' , `` cafe havana '' , `` bistro remedios '' , and `` abe '' , which was named after his father , the writer e. aguilar cruz .
cruz was also a journalist and magazine publisher .
before entering the restaurant business , cruz was a reporter for the manila times and the philippine herald .
in the 1960s , he joined the staff of a hong kong-based magazine .
in the early years of the administration of philippine president ferdinand marcos , cruz was a member of the presidential press office .
cruz , who was not a chef himself , established café adriatico in malate , manila in 1979 .
the venture proved successful and helped revitalize the malate area , other restaurants and cafes opening in the vicinity in the midst of the adriatico 's success .
cruz expanded his restaurant business with the opening of several other restaurants within metro manila through the ljc restaurant group .
at the time of his death in 2008 , cruz had opened fourteen restaurants in the philippines .
several of his restaurants featured filipino and kapampangan cuisine .
in the late 1980s , cruz published `` metro magazine '' , a city guide/political/lifestyle magazine inspired by `` new york magazine '' and `` vanity fair '' .
he later sold the magazine to eugenio lopez , jr. in order to finance the expansion of his restaurants .
upon his death on february 4 , 2008 , following complications from cancer , cruz was hailed at the time of his death as the leading filipino `` pioneer in theme or concept restaurants '' and the man who had `` shaped philippine café society '' .
