Taste of success
Journey took owner from El Salvador to Central Avenue
Journey from El Salvador leads to ownership of iconic Albany diner.
When Wilfredo Ruiz moved from El Salvador to the U.S. as a teenager, he hadn’t finished school, didn’t speak English and had no idea how to cook. Two decades later, he’s the co-owner and chef at Jack’s Diner, an American classic on Central Avenue since 1947.
In 2010, Ruiz and business partner Adan Lemus reopened the diner following the retirement of the former owner. They have reinvented the iconic restaurant into a neighborhood hub.
Celebrities like Jeff Goldblum and Danny Glover have stopped by when they’re in town. Regulars call it the “Cheers” of Albany. It’s the kind of place where a white police officer leans over a red leather booth with a cup of coffee to talk with a black member of the citizen’s police review board he just met at the next table. And the man behind it all is a 35-year-old Hispanic immigrant.
At mid-afternoon on a recent Sunday, Spanish football league teams played on the TV as Ruiz worked behind the kitchen counter. He toasted bread and fried eggs while Mexican pork ribs simmered on the stove — “off menu,” Ruiz said as he stirred the steaming pot. He serves his specials to friends and the waitresses from Guatemala and Venezuela who perch at the counter to eat just before closing time. With the booths clearing out, Ruiz left the kitchen to join his three godchildren and sister-in-law finishing up lunch.
Ruiz’s life now as an American business owner is a world away from where he started in El Salvador. His great-grandmother delivered Ruiz at home in a small village in the lush mountains. His family grew their own crops while he played soccer and went swimming in the river.
While Ruiz’s father worked in the U.S., Ruiz attended school until age 10 in his native village and then moved to a nearby city to train as a mechanic — but he set his sights on the U.S.
“I always wanted to make a dream and try to make a life over there,” Ruiz said. “Everybody is talking about America, everybody wants to come there. We see a lot of people in the small towns have benefits because they send money to their families. They have a better life.”
Ruiz moved to Newark, N.J. with his uncle in 1999. No one would hire him as a mechanic because he was a teenager and didn’t have a degree. He found part-time work as a busboy in a Brazilian restaurant and worked his way up as a server of traditional barbecue. He still has a raised white scar on the knuckle of his left pointer finger from days carrying a blistering meat spit.
At first, his plan was to
work, make money and return home. But over time, he realized it would be a better opportunity to stay. He enrolled in classes to get his general equivalency diploma and learn English while working in another restaurant.
In 2010, Lemus called to say that a diner in Albany was up for sale. The owner, John Murtagh, had retired after 43 years. Lemus and Ruiz met with Murtagh to seal the deal. Then he went to work fixing it up to prepare for the diner’s reopening a month later, on Aug. 25, 2010.
Ruiz taught himself how to cook on the job and tried to spice up the regular diner food. At first business was slow and Ruiz remembers days when he only had a few dollars left for gas. But as the restaurant’s reputation grew, the diner became packed. Ruiz and Lemus paid off the mortgage in five years.
Some regulars like Tom Keppler, a 55-year-old landlord who lives in Delmar, were friendly with the old management. But Keppler is happy with the new owners, calling service “exceptional.”
He even asked two of the diner’s waitresses to serve at his daughter’s graduation party last
year.
Others use Jack’s for business and leisure. Lonnie Ford, a 55-year-old contractor who grew up in Albany, called the diner “his office.”
“It’s a good place to meet people,” Ford said. “It’s like at Cheers, people know your name.”
After closing time on a Friday, Ford, his friend Devron Fallen and his daughter Danielle Gordon-fallen were the only customers left. The two men brought first-grader Danielle, who they said has been coming to the diner since she was born, after school because she wanted ice cream.
A man walked in, surprised to learn the diner was already closed, and left promising to come back. Ruiz said the man is homeless and he gives him a meal once a day.
“This place here, they say it’s a bad neighborhood. But for me, everybody’s friendly,” Ruiz said. “Everyone around here, they come and eat and they probably protect our property by walking around.”
Ruiz, who lives in Schenectady, said he finds himself at Jack’s even on his days off. He plans to stay in the U.S. for the rest of his life. The only time he returned to El Salvador was about five years ago, just before
his grandparents passed away. The poverty he saw shocked him.
“When I went there my heart was dying. There are kids walking in the street without shoes. It was like a war zone,” Ruiz said. He explained that increasing poverty, inf lation and gang violence were pushing more people like him to leave, looking for economic opportunities and security.
“I always tell them, if you come here, first you have to follow all the laws, you have to learn English and work hard and then everything becomes right,” Ruiz said. “This is a great country and they have a lot of opportunities, the only thing is you have to work hard for it.”