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Eat & Drink

Serial Diners Celebrate 16th Anniversary

Posted by Kristine / November 25, 2005

6 Comments

05nov25diners.jpgAnother year has come and gone for the Serial Diners, a group of people who have a peculiar dedication "to dining at every restaurant listed in the Toronto Yellow Pages (in alphabetical order), at the rate of one per week".

Of course, I just happen to be one of those people with that peculiar dedication.

Well, to a point - eating at a restaurant each week can get costly. As it is, I will not be eating at Harbour King Restaurant (2344 Danforth Ave) because it is Buy Nothing Day today. No matter, I will make an appearance for what is to be our 16th anniversary, if only to find out what the "afterplan" is.

[Image curtesy of University of Toronto Magazine: Photography: Mark Stegel. From left: Stephen Barringer, Jason Taniguchi and Charles Levi. Shot at Downtown-New York Pizza in 2000]

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Camille / November 25, 2005 at 03:59 pm
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This is really interesting, Kristine. I'm curious for more details - like, how long has this group been at it? How did you get involved? How many members are there? And how does it work out, in terms of enjoying the restaurants (ie, are most of them enjoyable, or are you stuck eating at some pretty shifty places)?
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Kristine / November 25, 2005 at 05:47 pm
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Click on "Serial Diners" in the post - there are some article links on the webpage. There was a short piece on us in 24 hours this today, too.

Regular members are in the 35-40 range: you would have to ask our historian, Charles Levi.about that. I've known about the group since the beginning (Levi and I went to UC at U of T together) but I was busy with the SCA. I start coming out on a regular basis until 1998.

More to follow. I'm late for dinner (so much for Buy Nothing Day)
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sciffy_circo / November 26, 2005 at 04:03 pm
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I put an entry on LJ about it. Yep, I know these guys, eaten with them several times. I ate with them on their first E restaurant, Eat My Martini, and I was the 200th person to RETURN to the group. I'll make it back eventually! Fun people. :)

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Clay / January 18, 2006 at 12:02 am
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Hi Steve
We chatted before re: Forest Rangers reunion. Well we are organizing another reunion for the old tv show "Rainbow Country" and i was wondering if u could give this message to your uncle Leslie. We would love to have him attend this August 2006 in Whitefish Falls, Ont. If he is interested to find out all the details and see everyone who is attending please email me or visit www.angelfire.com/tv2/rainbowcountry
Thanks
Clay
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Ashleigh / March 2, 2010 at 08:42 am
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I once found their note outside a restaurant I worked at and was perplexed until this day as to what it could mean.
With the information I have been able to gather it probably meant something along the lines of "this establishment does not serve dinner and closed at 6pm."
But it was way more cryptic than that.
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Kristine Maitland / April 14, 2010 at 03:52 pm
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Yeah, the Serial Diners is a realm for the cryptic - which is why I have been a member for 10+ years. What the note is supposed to do is direct you to the "alternate" restaurant (alternates are used when the restaurant is closed, condemned, or has no seating).

We celebrated our 20th anniversary last year.
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