Over the time I've lived off Church Street in Toronto, I've eaten at the 5 Alarm Diner at least once a week and often more often than that. The food was excellent, the staff were fabulous, and I was actually treated like a regular. Several of the waiters knew what I would eat before I had even looked at the menu. I used to meet my sister and her husband there for late night breakfasts and to celebrate good happenings.

You'll have noticed that I'm writing in a melancholy tone and in the past tense. This evening I strolled down for a late evening supper (perogies or bacon and eggs, I hadn't decided yet) and discovered that it had suddenly closed. I had just eaten there this time last week and there was no inkling then that the end was nigh. The explanation on the sign that they closed "due to circumstances out of our control" is ambiguous. I asked around at several restaurants in the neighborhood, including their neighbor Babylon, but no one seems to know anything. Does anyone out there have any information at all about this? Hopefully it will open again in another place but I'm not holding my breath.

And... in possibly related news, the Garage Sandwich Company, a couple of doors south of the diner has simultaneously closed up shop. Gladly, they'll somehow be affiliated with the Pusateri grocery in the neighborhood (not sure how that's going to work) but their old shop was pretty cool and they made the best darn sandwich in the city.

It's a sad day on Church Street...