Azusa Sheshe Dance – the singer and actress featured as the 142nd dinner interview – is celebrating a decade of New York artistry this year, and could use our help getting to the Summer Cabaret Conference later this month to mark it. Since moving to the city from Memphis, Tennessee,…
Interview 146: Math Teacher Nick Sevilla On Food, Community And Being ‘Mr. 8 That’
By day Nick Sevilla is a middle school math teacher in Germantown, Maryland. By night – and most weekends – he’s “Mr. 8 That,” a TikTok food creator with over 25,000 followers watching him eat his way through the DMV’s hidden gems, from Nigerian restaurants in Wheaton to food trucks…
Charles Cecil’s Broken Sword Goes To Hollywood
“Broken Sword,” a point-and-click adventure game by Charles Cecil (the 127th dining stranger) is becoming a film. Variety reports that Charles, who heads Revolution Software, will produce the movie with Noirin Carmody and Story Kitchen, and Evan Spiliotopoulos – the screenwriter for Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” – writing…
Throwback Thursday 115: Weekday With Bernie
“Get the early show if you can — look at the state of me, I’m not even buying green bananas anymore.” Bernie Clifton was 82 and two days from the end of a pantomime run when I caught up with him for coffee in Hull in December 2018. In the…
Interview 145: Actor Pete Gardner On Improv, Manifestation And Earning A Day Off
Pete Gardner spent decades as one of the hardest-working people in comedy that you’d never heard of. Improv stages in Chicago, guest spots on TV, near-misses that would have broken most people’s resolve. Then came “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” the musical comedy series where he played the lovable Darryl Whitefeather – and…
Mikko Celebrates Eight Years With Vappu Menu
Happy anniversary to Mikko Kosonen, who opened his Nordic restaurant on R Street NW eight years ago because, as he told me in the 118th dinner interview, nobody else in Washington was doing it. The former Finnish embassy chef has been educating D.C. diners about his type of food ever…
Throwback Thursday 114: Keeping The Kitchen Open For 30 Years
“If we don’t talk about someone’s criminal backstory then we’re just a cooking school and who gives a shit?” Mike Curtin doesn’t sugarcoat things. The CEO of DC Central Kitchen sat down with me for breakfast at Unconventional Diner in December 2018, just weeks before the organization marked its 30th…
Interview 144: Musician Tom Marolda Talks Craft, Feuds And Writing Hits Behind The Scenes
Cher. Bon Jovi. Imagine Dragons. Music from the films “Stayin’ Alive” and “Rocky.” If you’re familiar with these names or titles, you’ve probably heard Tom Marolda’s work – you just didn’t know it. The Grammy-nominated songwriter, performer and producer has spent decades as one of music and Hollywood’s most dependable…
Throwback Thursday 113: Medium Rare
“You can’t be all things to all people. Do one thing and do it well,” says Mark Bucher. He’s built his entire Medium Rare restaurant philosophy around that principle, achieving success with a simple idea. . When I sat down for dinner with him at his Arlington location in November…
Dining With Strangers On Instagram
After 16 years and 143 dinners, Dining With Strangers is finally on Instagram. Starting today, I’m archiving the entire interview series on Instagram from the very beginning in November 2008, when I had brunch with a friend in New York and came up with the idea for this site. Each…