Founding Foodie Hector Cruz

Hector Cruz developed his appreciation for great food through his success as sales manager for an Audi dealership in Miami.

“The owner of the dealership, every time that we got No. 1 in the region, he used to take us to dinner to the places he liked in Miami—these wonderful restaurants where the food was amazing,” Cruz says. “And I started going by myself, with my family, to these restaurants. And there I started my passion for food more seriously.”

When Cruz’s daughter enrolled at Penn State, Cruz and his wife visited often from their home on Marco Island, Florida, before eventually moving here. 

But Cruz says that as a visitor to the area, he found it difficult to find places to eat. Unlike in Marco Island, there was no Facebook page in Happy Valley where community members could share information about their favorite restaurants.

So, in 2018, Cruz launched Foodies of State College.

“I said, ‘You know what, I’m retired; let me open a page here and see how that goes,’” Cruz says. “At the beginning it was me only, visiting restaurants and posting.”

Cruz promoted Foodies of State College on other local Facebook pages, and “little by little” others joined his page and began sharing their opinions on the local food scene.

As of late January, the page had 18,400 members, many engaged in spirited discussions ranging from where to go for an upscale meal to the area’s most consistent McDonald’s.

Lately, pizza has generated the most passionate debate, Cruz says.

“Every time somebody posts about pizza, people get crazy with their comments and opinions,” Cruz says with a laugh. (For a small slice of the debate, search for “Altoona pizza” on the page.)

Here is more from our conversation:

Why do you think the page has been so successful?

Cruz: My goal is to keep the page positive, with a good vibe. There are a lot of pages on social media where people are always arguing and all that. I cannot say that doesn’t [ever] happen on my page, but I try to control it and try to keep it as positive as I can. And I think that’s been the key. I want the page to be a fun and a safe place for people to go and share what they love about food.

Has the food scene changed much since you started the page in 2018?

Cruz: I can say that the page has helped local restaurants that maybe people didn’t even know existed like We Are Inn in Philipsburg. That’s 25 minutes from State College, something like that. There is another restaurant in Philipsburg called Graham’s [Up in Smoke] Barbecue. I went there, loved the barbecue, and posted on the page; a lot of people started to visit the place to get their barbecue. 

I also let the restaurant owners post on the page—if they have a special or something new or whatever they want to post about the restaurant—once a week, or basically four times a month. 

You developed your passion for food in Miami. State College is obviously a much smaller community. How do you rate the food scene here?

Cruz: You can find food from every single part of the world in Miami; it is a paradise for a foodie. But let me tell you, State College, for such a small town, we have a really good diversity of food from everywhere. We have food from Pakistan, from China, Japanese cuisine, American cuisine, Latin cuisine.

What would make the local food scene better?

Cruz: Not because I am Latin, but I think that there is a hole in the restaurant scene in State College about Caribbean food, more Latin food. Every time that somebody says something about it [on the page], the post gets 100 or 200 comments; people are being very positive about that. 

Recently, a place opened in State College [Coffee Hemp and Tea, 313 West Foster Avenue]. It’s a coffee place but on Saturdays they’ve started to cook Puerto Rican dishes and I think it’s getting very popular because people have started posting about it on the page. I think that we need a little bit more of that.

Another thing that members talk about is a lack of places for food trucks to park in State College. There are a lot of food trucks in the area. [It would be good] to find a place that on a Friday night or a Saturday they could all get together and offer their food to the community.

You’ve touched on a couple, but what are some of your other favorite restaurants in the area that are perhaps a bit under the radar?

Cruz: When somebody asks me what is my favorite restaurant in State College, or one of my favorites, what always comes to my mind is Pine Grove Hall. The food is different there. I can say it’s not for everybody, but the menu always changes and is very interesting. They have a really good young chef there; I love his creations. 

Also, there is a tiny restaurant in downtown called Juana’s [129 South Fraser Street, off Martin Luther King Plaza near Kelly Alley]. If you don’t know where it is, you’re never gonna see it. But it’s a cozy restaurant from Venezuela. The owner is very passionate about her food; she spends a lot of time cooking quality products. 

If visitors are coming to town for the weekend and they want to sample the best this area has to offer, where are you sending them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Cruz: Well, a classic in State College is The Waffle Shop. I love the breakfast at Bonfatto’s in Bellefonte also. I love the brunch at Pine Grove Hall on Sundays. I’ve never been to the Penn Stater, but a lot of people talk about the buffet there in the morning. 

How about lunch and dinner options?

Cruz: Of course, my first place is Pine Grove Hall. But also, I really like Allen Street Grill in downtown; that’s another place that is amazing. Also, The Tavern in downtown. The [American] Ale House is a really good place. Happy Valley Brewery. The Blonde Bistro—I really like that place; she’s very consistent with her food and it’s really good. I really like Four Ways Pub. If you like authentic Mexican food, Lupita’s. It’s not in State College, but another place that’s really popular is the We Are Inn in Philipsburg. There are so many places.

Anything new planned for the page this year? 

Cruz: Maybe do more of what I call the Foodies of State College Tour. We did a couple last year. I think we’ll do more get-togethers [at local restaurants] with members of the group because there’s a lot of people that interact on the page, but they don’t know each other in person. And it’s nice to meet for lunch or dinner so that members can go and talk about food.

What’s the most satisfying aspect of running the page?

Cruz: The positive impact the local restaurants are gaining from the page. More people visiting the establishment to try the food because many members are talking about a specific dish that they love. And that’s the main difference between my page and, for example, TripAdvisor and Yelp is that you cannot interact with the person that is posting about it [on those sites]. You can interact and get more details about what you really like [on Foodies of State College], and that helps the local restaurants to get more and more people to go to their places. That’s my satisfaction, to see a local restaurant doing well. T&G

Mark Brackenbury is a former editor of Town&Gown.