‘He particularly asked God for a chance to get back on his feet and at the same time help others do the same – by opening a carenderia.’
THERE’S this “hole in the wall” food outlet that has become legendary when it comes to homegrown eateries in Cebu City. It’s found in one of the streets of what is called Capitol Site, and occupies the ground level of an ancestral house.
It’s called “Paulito’s STK ta bai,” with STK standing for sugba, tuwa and kilawin. But it offers far more than just these, although when it started as a carinderia more than two decades ago, all it offered were five dishes, including these three mainstays.
I found the food heavenly – the sinful lechon kawali included – and maybe it’s because the family-run restaurant is a product of, well, faith.
As things go, a crisis is what led to what is now Paulito’s. A business involving some of the children of pharmacists Diego and Flora Lirio went sour, leaving Jerry Alcover (who married Annabelle Jocelyn, the youngest of the six Lirio children) with nothing, as he had invested everything in their enterprise.
Karen, the eldest of the Lirio-Alcover brood (who happened to be at the restaurant when we were there), told us how they lost everything and were left with nothing – no car, no electricity, not even loose change.
But her father had two legs, a heart, a good head on his shoulders, and tons of faith – and it was with these that he would troop from their Capitol Site house all the way to the Cathedral, on foot, daily – for about two years, with Karen and her mom in tow.
They survived on the kindness of people they didn’t know, because family and friends shunned them once they were penniless.
But her father, Karen narrated, believed. And he specifically believed that if he asked, he would indeed receive. He particularly asked God for a chance to get back on his feet and at the same time help others do the same – by opening a carenderia. Well, what do you know – lo and behold, a family property of his in-laws that no one could sell, he was able to sell – for cash. And from the commission he made from the proceeds of the sale, he had his start-up capital.
And the carinderia opened with five folding tables – with Karen still a “doubting Thomas.” Her father said he was targeting taxi drivers who all needed to break for a meal. But no taxi drivers ever came. Instead, due to their proximity to the Cebu Provincial Capitol, their regulars were government employees, lawyers, maybe even fixers (ha-ha) – those who did business with the provincial government and needed to treat someone to a good but inexpensive meal. And that’s how their fame spread, by word of mouth (pun intended) as the now-satisfied hungry mouths to feed spoke well of their operations.
Thus, the business grew. And they got back up on their feet. Where once her mother had to collect the five-centavo coins that most people ignored just so that she could buy herself her favorite bag of peanuts, now they were feeding hundreds.
No more dinner of just rice and salt for the Alcover kids.
I told Karen that halfway through her story, when she started relating her family story and stressing how faith was a crucial part of it, I wanted to run away. But at the same time, I told her that her family story was in tune with the book of Pope Francis I am currently reading, entitled Let Us Dream. Written during the pandemic, Pope Francis was saying that crises like the pandemic are a perfect opportunity for us individually and collectively to look inside ourselves, change what needs to be changed, pursue our dreams.
“We can learn what takes us forward,” Pope Francis wrote, “and what sets us back. We can choose.”
Karen’s father did just that.
So now, where a carinderia once stood, you have Paulito’s – and one branch in each of the three biggest malls in Cebu City.
No wonder the food is heavenly (the sinful lechon kawali included) – the restaurant is divinely inspired!
