Friends and fans of Agustin Vazquez will be pleased to learn that the widely admired San Juan Cosala restaurateur and community leader is now on the mend following a recent health scare.
The proprietor and head chef at the town’s popular Viva Mexico Tia Lupita restaurant was taken ill last week while lending assistance to the Operation Feed program for hungry families, one the many altruistic activities that are close to his now ailing heart.
Close pals define Vazquez as “a prodigious workaholic” who tends to put the needs of others above of his own. But the sudden onset of severe symptoms related to a chronic cardiac ailment finally forced him to seek medical advice. On the recommendation of Ajijic physician Gerardo Leon he was hustled off to Guadalajara for an EKG. The test results led to immediate admission to the St. Bernadette’s Hospital on August 8 for an emergency angioplasty.Vazquez pulled through the procedure without a hitch and is now back at home and well on the road to recovery. In the meantime his devoted wife and able staff are holding down the fort at Viva Mexico which was remodeled and enlarged to twice its previous size earlier this summer.
Arising from the cenaduria evening diner founded nearly three decades ago by his grandmother and aunt Guadalupe (Tia Lupita), the restaurant has gained renown for a top notch repertoire of typical Mexican cuisine. Agustin developed his own cooking talents working in the kitchen of an Ajijic eating establishment back in the 1980’s. He took over ownership of the family business in 2003, affectionately christening the place in the names of his equally beloved homeland and aunt.
Attesting to a sterling reputation, Vazquez and the restaurant were subjects of a feature profile in the June 28 edition of Buena Mesa, the food and dining supplement that appears every Friday in the Guadalajara daily Mural.
Agustin’s dedication to good causes arose from the devastating flood and debris slide that struck San Juan in September 2007. Joining forces with the village priest and a gang of native and foreign residents, he spearheaded a 10-day volunteer campaign, turning the restaurant into a soup kitchen to help feed teams of rescue workers and about a thousand local people who were forced to take refuge in two makeshift shelters.
The effort left Viva Mexico in financial shambles and on the brink of extinction. Prepared to give up the ghost, he shut the doors for two months until a group of Canadian and American admirers pulled together an unexpected economic boost.
Since then Agustin has turned into a model philanthropist, embracing Operation Feed, San Juan’s youth soccer league and a host of other charitable works, as well as assuming a leadership role in an on-going struggle to root out criminal activity in his home town.
A local movement is now a foot to show solidarity with the Vazquez family’s current plight with a Viva Mexico restaurant “swarm” planned for Tuesday, August 27 from 1 p.m. Look for details posted in the Out on the Mirador section at www.insidelakeside.com.