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Editor's Note: To find out
what happens at a singles dining club outing, Denver Post Food
Writer Hsiao-Ching Chou agreed to put herself in the mix for one
Dinner For Six event. Here's her account of the evening.
Getting ready for a
dinner date already is stressful: What outfit is the most
flattering? What necklace is elegant and delicate, but not chunky?
Which shoes - leather pumps or strappy, sexy heels - add just the
right finishing touch.
Add the constant
reminder not to order anything (like fettuccine) that requires
slurping or has a high mess potential.
It's still not as
disconcerting as meeting not just one new man, but three. Plus two
new women.
That was the setup one
recent Friday night when I joined five others meeting for a dinner
arranged by Dinner For Six, a "dining club for single
professionals."
That's me: single,
professional, enjoy fine dining. And just to make sure I was matched
with kindred spirits, I filled out a membership form a week before
the dinner that inquired about my hobbies, likes and dislikes,
interests and preferred age group.
The personal information is
used, they assured me, to match members who would have something to
talk about.
Though club literature
insists Dinner For Six is not a dating service,
that "interviewing" process still made me feel like a pageant
contestant sauntering
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down
the runway, hoping I was pretty enough,
interesting enough and cool enough to join the club.
A few days later, a
successful match had been made and I got the details in a voicemail
message:
"Michael's of Cherry
Creek, Tuesday, 7 p.m. Meet at the bar. Robert (Denison, founder of
the club) will be there to greet you. Your dinner companions are
Tony, Randy, Ernie, Maria and Tricia."
That night, Robert
introduced everyone, collected the fees and then left. The six of us
were on our own to discuss the entrees, order our meals, talk about
everything from photo radar to politics, martini bars to scuba
diving. Maria (the corporate attorney), Tony and Randy (the
self-professed computer geeks), Ernie (the cop), Trish (the portrait
photographer) and I (the food writer) kept up a stimulating
conversation throughout the 2 1/2-hour evening.
We all agreed by the
time dessert was served that Dinner For Six had made a good
match.
One of the club's
benefits, Denison said earlier, is the chance to meet people you
probably wouldn't meet otherwise, especially all in one evening. I
agree. But, my dinner mates asked over sweets, would I be willing to
join the club?
With five pairs of eyes
on I hesitated. The club is worth joining, I said diplomatically,
and certainly a lot less than dating services, but the $595
membership fee is a bit steep for me.
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