Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
Actor Burt Young is perhaps best known as the character Paulie from the Rocky series of movies, but he’s also an avid painter and writer — things I discovered when I met him in Port Washington, New York, in October 2011 for the 39th Dining With Strangers interview. Now it’s your…
During his years working for the CIA as a counterterrorism analyst Aki Peritz had to keep his job a secret. Since leaving the agency he’s able to talk about it generally, and he’s enjoying a successful career as a consultant, writer, and teacher on the subject. But he still maintains…
The 25th Throwback Thursday is my interview back in October 2010 with former District council candidate Bryan Weaver. He was born in Oregon but is a long-time resident of DC, and spoke about why he loves the city and its residents so much and how he got involved in politics….
In July 2010 I traveled to Philadelphia for a weekend to meet friends, and made time to do another Dining With Strangers interview. Today’s throwback is to the 24th stranger; restaurant critic blogger and photographer Albert Yee. He moved to the city several years ago knowing little about it, but…
The 23rd Throwback Thursday is the second of two interviews from my July 2010 trip to California; this one with Winston Geiseke who at the time was managing editor of a blog for the gay porn publishing company Unzipped that produced magazines and more. We met at Dear John’s Restaurant in Culver…
Sad news courtesy of the Washington City Paper’s Laura Hayes, who reports that Dean Gold will soon close his DC Italian-inspired restaurant Dino’s Grotto. In May 2018 I met Dean for dinner at his restaurant for the 106th Dining With Strangers interview. It was his second attempt at making a…
Throwback Thursday 22 is one of the most-read interviews on my site; lunch in Los Angeles with gay for pay porn actor and escort Malachi Marx (not his real name) back in July 2010. The original version of the article on the old Dining With Strangers site had a lot…
Visiting New York for World Pride? Want something fun to do on Friday June 28? Buy a ticket for the one man show “Steve Hayes Is So Inclined,” taking place at 7pm. Steve, the 117th stranger featured on this site, is the host of the YouTube series “Tired Old Queen…
In the decade-plus that I’ve been doing Dining With Strangers, I’ve had a handful of interviews that justified splitting into two parts. My May 2015 dinner in Beverly Hills with actor Fred Melamed (A Serious Man, Girls, Curb Your Enthusiasm) and his wife Leslee Spieler Melamed was one of those….
The 21st Throwback Thursday is my May 2010 lunch at Muriel’s in New Orleans with voodoo queen Mary Millan. A very easygoing and interesting person, she dispelled some myths about the religion of voodoo and also had plenty to say about life in the Big Easy. In addition to my…