Chito Roño now a restaurateur

Award-winning director Chito Roño is now a restaurateur. Along with brother Mario, Chito is helping run the family business – the new Via Mare outlet at the ground floor of Promenade in Greenhills.

Last July 11, this Via Mare branch was inaugurated with friends from the different sectors of society in attendance. Among those present were Tourism Secretary Ace Durano, San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito, former Tourism Undersecretary Ram Antonio, top designer Paul Cabral, Dr. Vicki Belo, Vangie Kua of the Belo Medical Clinic, Philippine STAR writer Miguel Pastor and, of course, Via Mare grand dame Glenda Barretto.

But as expected, majority of the guests were from show business: Kris Aquino, Piolo Pascual, Phoemela Barranda, Mario Dumaual, Malou Choa-Fagar of TAPE, Precy Ejercito and Joey Abacan of GMA 7.

Most of the guests admitted eating a light lunch or skipping lunch completely in anticipation of this opening (scheduled at 5 p.m.) because in true Via Mare tradition, everyone was treated to a sumptuous merienda of lumpiang shanghai, fresh vegetable egg rolls shaped like pouches, oysters and other finger foods. For dessert, they served palitao (the best I’ve ever tasted) and, of course, Via Mare’s famous to-die-for bibingka.

Reaction To Alaskan Journey

In late May – at the peak of that unbearable summer – I decided to write about my trip to the Arctic Circle on the side of Alaska in my vain attempt to escape from the heat. I thought that by recalling in my mind and putting down in writing my journey to that cold, cold place, I’d be able to cool off. But I swear that hardly helped at all.

However, that two-part piece elicited a lot of feedback from the readers and among those who wrote was Honorio Ybera Jr., who wants to share with us his and his wife’s Alaskan journey. Here is Mr. Ybera’s letter in full:

Reading your column, Starbytes, on your Arctic Dream awakened in me my own experience of Alaska.

My wife and I had our 35th wedding anniversary celebrated on a tourist liner to the State of Alaska. For half a month after our connecting flight from San Francisco to Vancouver, we regaled with people coming from all over the world in all the fun and merriment aboard the 12-story high cruiser that had bars, dancing hall, exercise salons, postal service, restaurants, shopping malls, auditorium for stage plays and casinos.

While you had the Barrow Point as your starting tour, our nine-hour journey through the Inside Passage was like wading through a dream sequence. On both sides were landscapes of primeval beauties, untouched and perhaps, not even known to human hands. It was an enviable ecology that could have been there since time began. After a 10-hour trip, cold winds began to welcome us to the northern chill. We did not reach Barrow Point for it could not be reached by boat. The only known places we hit were Valdez and Seeward.

On our way back, the liner stopped. It was a monstrous chunk of ice before us called the Hubbard Glacier. Tourists went to the upper deck to shoot and marvel at the floes that occasionally had seals on them.

Skagway was a one-street town. But we were amazed to see seven other tourists liners waiting to debark. I really did not know what there was to see. Taking a train ride to almost heavenward, we realized we were lucky to be there. We saw sights we never saw before.

Juneau was bigger but it was just like Skagway in its isolation. It had cable cars, arts, educational centers and canning factories. And like all other Alaskan cities, crimes are unheard of. A resident can leave his home unlocked and expect it to be the way it was when he gets back.

Juneau was like all the Alaskan ports where we had stopovers. Mendenhall Glacier was its biggest attraction. But if one wants to know Alaskan history, Ketchikan is a city that should not be missed. Except for the cold, it was like a frontier town. Furs were in abundance and totem poles were colorful and taller.

Ours was not an Arctic Dream. But Alaska is a vast frontier that even dreams cannot encompass.

Write on and introduce your readers to more hidden places of the world.

Good Luck, Dawn!

Toward the end of Startalk last Saturday, we got a phoned-in question – through our PLDT-sponsored Talak-athon portion – asking if it‘s true that Dawn Zulueta is having twins.

For a while, I got excited there because we all know that Dawn and husband Anton Lagdameo had long been wanting to have their own baby and now they’re having twins! But it turned out to be a false alarm. She’s pregnant, all right, but it’s just a single pregnancy for her. That was what Dawn told me during my phone-patched interview with her in the Talak-athon segment.

Well, I’m still very happy for her and Anton. At least, Dawn is doing okay with her pregnancy and is now in Davao where she and her husband are based. (The baby’s gender is still unknown as she has yet to take an ultra-sound test.)

Last April 30, Dawn also visited the Startalk set (which was once her own home – having been a former co-host of the program) to promote Encantadia and that time she had just found out that she was on the family way. After the interview, I remember telling people to please assist her as she made her way out of the studio so that she doesn’t trip on cable wires and everyone was just so happy to be of help since Dawn is a well-loved member of this industry. From my end, I’ve always been very fond of her because she had been so gracious in her dealings with me from the time we first met each other long ago (my Showbiz Lingo days, I guess).

Let‘s all please include Dawn in our prayers so that she may have a safe delivery and bring into this world a healthy baby.