Larry Cruz

Lorenzo "Larry" J. Cruz (September 17, 1941 – February 4, 2008) was a Filipino restaurateur who founded the LJC Restaurant Group, which operates several restaurants in the Philippines. Among the restaurants in the said group include 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.

Career 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. He later sold the magazine to Eugenio Lopez Jr. in order to finance his business expansion.