Get your club sandwich order in while you can — long-standing diner Patrician Grill is closing after 73 years in business.
The King Street East institution will stay open to the public until May 9 before the space is handed over to new owners in June. The owners first announced the closure on Instagram on Feb. 8.
Patrician Grill opened in 1953 and was taken over by Louis and Helen Papas in 1967. Today, it is run by their son Terry Papas along with his brother-in-law, Chris Slifkas, marking nearly 60 years under the family’s management.
“It’s time to move on,” Terry Papas told The Toronto Star. The family has received multiple offers on the building over the years. “We’ve had people coming in and we always said no, no, no,” he says. “But we finally got a reasonable offer, so we sold the building. It was a painstaking decision between me and my sister. It didn’t come easy, but we finally did it.”
Papas declined to say who bought the building, but said the buyer was chosen based on a combination of price and fit. Letting go of the family business remains difficult. “(The buyers are) good for the neighbourhood. It felt good, on that end, but on my end, letting it go? This place, we’ve been here longer than any home we’ve lived in,” he says.
He will miss the bacon and eggs, the club sandwiches. “My brother makes a great soup every day,” he says. “Customers aren’t the only one (who will miss the food). I’ve been here basically my whole life.”
Running the diner was not a life Papas chose. “I fell into this,” he says. “I’m a victim of circumstance by family. Everyone who has a family business will understand.” Still, it became a life he grew to love. He says he will miss the customers most. “Talking with the people, the neighbourhood: we grew up here. Some people have been coming here since the ‘70s,” he says. “I know their lives, and they know us.”
He says Patrician Grill became a community hub for people from all walks of life, from students and lawyers to blue-collar workers. “You hear what’s happening in the city. The networking and information, that’s what I am going to miss. There’s that Jewish word: the kibbutzing. And giving attitude and getting attitude and telling customers, ‘no, you can’t have that!’” Papas recalled with a chuckle how one online review once branded him “Toronto’s Soup Nazi,” after the fearsome “Seinfeld” character.
Diners like his are becoming rarer in Toronto, with recent closures including the Coach House and the Rosedale Diner. “It’s becoming an extinct business, because most of them are run by families and it’s a lot of work, six or seven days a week,” he says. “The reason why we’ve managed to survive a lot of ups and downs is because I am here, and my brother-in-law, and my parents.”
Will the family take any mementos from the diner? His sister is eying the vintage countertops, while Papas already knows what he will take: the sign. It will likely end up in his backyard, he says. He is unsure what comes next, but hopes it includes “lots of golf,” as well as painting and woodworking. Papas expects his brother-in-law will find part-time work.
And after decades of working the diner day in and day out, Papas says he is looking forward to finally sleeping in.
