Sandy Daza

IBELIEVE there is another person whom you should know, for his contributions to Philippine cuisine and proving to one and all that being a foodie will get you everywhere. And he went everywhere. Sandy Daza is another childhood friend/neighbor of mine. Our community called Area One (also my Beatle tribute band’s name) was an amazing community, everyone knew each other, including whose pet belonged to whom.

Sandy and I went to the same high school (UP) but he finished his grade school at Ateneo in Katipunan Road.

He was only a couple of years my senior, which explains why I was accepted as the “salimpusa” of their age group at Area One. Sandy then played guitar together with the members of the Chosen Few with Boy Camara. They had a Ludwig drumset and Vox amplifiers and original Gretsch, Hofner and Rickenbacker guitar models used by the Beatles! Boy, was I turned on to music quickly!

Little did I know that from music, Sandy would evolve into another art, the culinary kind.

Sandy’s mom, tita Nora Daza, a veteran gourmet and the “Julia Child” of the Philippines in 1957, was already a big name in culinary arts in those days. Her television show “Cooking Up With Nora Daza” was a resounding success due to its large and consistent fan base.

In the late 1980s, Sandy joined his mother as co-host and the show was then renamed “Cooking With

The Dazas.” We were thrilled to see Sandy on TV. However, adulation aside, Sandy knew better — he was focused on improving the program and to do this, he had to train for it. He took up courses with the Mandarin Hotel Cooking School on Thai cuisine in Bangkok. From there, he pursued further studies at Cornell University in the US, then on to American College in Paris, France, and finally at the famous Ecole Cordon Bleu, also in Paris.

After Tita Nora left for Paris to put up a Philippine restaurant with her daughter Stella, Sandy took full control of the cooking show as host and then renamed the show “Cooking With Sandy.”

From then on, Sandy began promoting Filipino food further with a series of television programs. Short for kitchen economics, “Kitchenomics” provided housewives with budget-friendly recipes that are easy to make, delicious and nutritious. This was unheard of before and it revolutionized the art of promoting home cooking to a higher and more reachable level. Another local TV food program of his was “Foodprints.”

Despite the logistical challenges, Sandy established specialty restaurants to gather more experience. He set up the following food establishments on his own: The Maharlika Restaurant, Philippine cuisine in New York City; Aux Iles Philippines, Philippine cuisine in Paris; Sandy’s Cuisine, Philippine cuisine in Manila; Sandy’s Cuisine, Philippine cuisine in Vancouver, Canada; Au Bon Café, bistro cuisine, the Mai Thai Express, fast food, and the Mai Thai Restaurant, Thai cuisine, all in Manila. Another popular venue was Wooden Spoon restaurant in Quezon City and Makati City. Whew!

These shows and venues featured Philippine delicacies and other staple dishes as well as international dishes and personal creations.

Sandy also hosted the first Filipino cooking show at the Shaw Multicultural Channel in Vancouver, Canada and “Cooking With Sandy” in the US which aired nationwide for Filipino TV subscribers.

Sandy didn’t stop there. He wrote about his passion as a food columnist in a national newspaper, critic and cookbook author: Happy Eating and Cooking With Sandy Daza.

Sandy was also a member of the prestigious international gastronomic association, the Chaîne des Rotisseurs. As an alumnus of Cornell University, he handled the preliminary interviews for student applicants at Cornell University Hotel School and Restaurant Administration in upstate New York.

It goes without saying that Sandy has often been invited as judge, lecturer, coach etc. for various large-scale food events.

His remarkable achievements are indeed like colorful peacock feathers in his cap. The pandemic only inspired him to scale down and establish Sandy’s Empanada, a creation of his to die for.

This year saw him conducting food tours in Japan as learning visits for friends and guests.

With his youthful demeanor double-coated with sincerity and a strong desire to welcome you as a friend, Sandy is indeed a great person to be by your side. “Sa hirap at sa hirap, dahil madali na ‘pag ginhawa,” you will never believe that this person hung out with cofoodies checking out Hong Ning restaurant in Cubao, or the original MaMon Luk along Quezon Avenue. Always checking out the food and tasting and enjoying it.

It is never too late to be Sandy’s friend. But you have to be just as amiable as he is, with a full armory of wit and humor, and a sincere appreciation for friendship.

The food can come later.