Always Dagupeña

When we are stuck in Dagupan City’s gridlock, my Mom inevitably tells us the story of how, once upon a time when she was a little girl, Dagupan was a wide, empty, and clean space consisting of fishponds and swampland. She never fails to rue the fact that the fishponds in the Dawel area are being filled up and converted into housing subdivisions and commercial areas. "The bangus (milkfish) raised in these fishponds were the tastiest because they ate aluparep," she would say repeatedly. Even without actually seeing aluparep in our entire lives, her vivid descriptions gave us a clear mental picture of what the grayish-green algae must have looked like. We listen to endless repetitions of the story, squirming in our seats in agitation as the passenger jeepneys in front of us casually stop without warning to pick up even more passengers, without heed of the traffic building up in the narrow road behind them. Soon, tension levels are high. By the time we get to A.B. Fernandez Ave., we all need to relax. A stop at the Dagupeña restaurant for a meal is almost a certainty before we could drive on.

Dagupeña Restaurant has been around for a long time. Established in 1928 by Ignacia Calidio Bernal, it started out as a small eatery meant to augment the family income. Bai Ignacia was a meticulous cook who used the freshest ingredients and, eventually, her restaurant gained the patronage of Pangasinan’s most prominent citizens. Favorites include sinigang a bangus, daing a bangus, egado (a dish of sweetbreads), pinakbet, and inasin a pait – a distinctly Pangasinan dish made up of salted bangus innards. Quail or pugo is available sometimes, and a light yet hearty Fisherman’s Soup of mussels, crabs, shrimp and malunggay leaves in a ginger-flavored broth is a favorite. One can also buy ready-to-cook bangus daing, hamonado, and relleno.

"My mother educated eight children from the earnings of Dagupeña," says Emma Bernal-Castro who manages the restaurant today. "She had to raise us single-handedly because she was widowed early." Mrs. Castro was a child of seven or eight when her father was killed after being hit by shrapnel during World War II. "I still remember that day. It was Liberation and we didn’t like to leave our house because there was looting. It was Jan. 8, 1945 and American planes were strafing Dagupan. My father was going to be buried the next day, Jan. 9, and his mortal remains were in the Dagupan Cathedral. It was dawn when the American planes started the bombing. We were inside the church and then the priests said that we had to go outside because the church might be bombed. When we went outside, the Americans saw that we were all civilians and they immediately stopped dropping the bombs."

Since the Americans occupied the Bernal house as an office, they supplied the family with free food items. Bai Ignacia used these in the restaurant.

Although all of the Bernal siblings were at one time involved in the operation of Dagupeña, Emma Bernal Castro now operates the restaurant. " Actually, I was born here," she reveals. "Maybe it was automatic that I took over."

The involvement in the family’s culinary tradition continues with the next generation. "My children are all interested, even my sons – a doctor, a lawyer, and a businessman," says Mrs. Castro. " But fortunately, I have a daughter, Ann, who trained as a chef in New York at the Culinary Institute of America. Perhaps cooking runs in our blood."

"We will never run out of bangus in Pangasinan." This is Mrs. Castro’s reaction to the observation that many of the fishponds in Dagupan are being converted to housing areas. "There are still many fishponds in Binmaley and Lingayen."

On my last visit to the Dagupeña restaurant, I noticed that a section of the restaurant had been boarded up. Asking the waiter why it was so, I was shocked at the reply: Dagupeña Restaurant, practically an institution in Dagupan City and setting of many of my memorable childhood meals, was moving to a new location. Change has finally caught up with it.

The Bernals do not own the land, and the heirs of the property on which Dagupeña stands are selling it. Thus, they are moving. The new restaurant will soon re-open in San Miguel, Calasiao, Pangasinan.

Although it will be in Calasiao, the restaurant will still be called Dagupeña. Mrs. Castro shares that they plan to move back to Dagupan after a few years.

To remain Dagupeña even after relocating to Calasiao makes a lot of sense. Although change is inevitable, there are essential things that remain the same. Just as some of our countrymen need to leave our country for various reasons, they usually remain Filipinos at heart. The long-term plan is always to return to the homeland someday. This is just as it is with the Dagupeña and Dagupan City.

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Dagupeña Restaurant has moved to its new location in San Miguel, Calasiao, Pangasinan. For inquiries, call (075)522-2752 or e-mail bangus@earthdom.com.