Taking strangers to dinner and interviewing them about their lives since 2008
Dinner 99 is online! In late March I was in New York for the weekend and had the chance to interview actors Santino and Jessica Fontana. I’d read about their joint career in the arts in a great New York Times article about their wedding, and thought they’d have interesting…
“Love Wins” is the title of a book that Jim Obergefell wrote about his experiences being the lead named plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, about the landmark decision that held that the Constitution guarantees the right of same-sex couples to marry across the United States. Almost…
Dinner 97 is online! This is my meal at sea with entertainer and singer/songwriter Matt Yee, who is a mainstay of gay and straight cruise ships performing his cabaret act to packed audiences. In late January we were on the same cruise, and so one night when he had a…
W. Ralph Eubanks is a writer, educator and scholar with an extensive history covering racism in America — both his experiences growing up African-American, as well as broader issues such as the institutionalized economic racism he’s researching for his next book. In addition to all that expertise, he’s also fantastic…
President-elect Donald Trump takes office January 20th, and will probably head to a couple of inaugural balls that night — but Maryland State Senate Cheryl Kagan (the 90th dining stranger) has an alternative party planned. The Democratic lawmaker is hosting an “UnNaugural Concert” the same evening to promote progressive causes,…
Actor Jack Fry, the 15th stranger I dined with, is heading to New York City this month with his one-man show Einstein! The play is based on more than 15,000 documents from Albert Einstein’s life, with Jack playing the scientist on a bid to set the record straight about his…
Want to share your life story? And get a free meal? Dining With Strangers lets you do both at once. As you’re writing your new year’s resolution lists, add dinner with a stranger (me) on the to-do list. Meet with me at a restaurant of your choice, for a relaxed…
Sad news from New Orleans, with the announced closure at the end of December of t-shirt shop Storyville, which is run by former dinner interviewees Josh and Natalie Harvey. Storyville specialized in unique and funny designs, and gained some notoriety in the Big Easy with a “Brad Pitt For Mayor” t-shirt that generated…
The most festive interview I’ve done so far for this site was in December 2011 when I got dinner with Ed Downey, who for years has performed as Santa Claus. He had plenty of interesting things to say about his unusual job, as well as his adventure-filled life. But a…
There are two reasons I know Michael Wilkinson. First is that he’s one of the founders of Washington, DC-based pizza chain Pete’s Apizza, which specializes in New Haven-style pizzas. Michael was one of the first people to do an interview for this site, meeting me for lunch at the company’s…