Santino Fontana Is On A Tootsie Roll

Congratulations to Santino Fontana for winning Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical at the Tony Awards for his role in Tootsie The Musical! I met Santino and his wife Jessica (also an actor and singer) for a lunch interview in March 2017. They talked about what’s it…

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Throwback Thursday 19: Living In Rhode Island

Throwback Thursday 19 is the third of four meals with strangers in Providence, Rhode Island back in April 2010. This time it was dinner with local realtor Bob Black at Greek restaurant Andrea’s, talking about his (sadly now defunct) blog extolling the benefits of living in Rhode Island. You know…

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Mikko’s Pride Party

Chef Mikko Kosonnen, owner of namesake Nordic restaurant Mikko in DC, will be hosting a party for the city’s annual Capital Pride parade on Saturday June 8. His restaurant is right by the parade route, offering a prime spot to check it out from the comfort of his welcoming patio…

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Throwback Thursday 18: The Many Lives Of Mary Ann

The 18th Throwback Thursday is my April 2010 lunch in Providence, Rhode Island, with Mary Ann Sorrentino to talk about her many careers. She’s worked in medical care, been a local radio show host and columnist, and was an abortion rights advocate while serving as head of the state’s Planned…

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Meet The Crumble Lady

Here’s your chance to meet singer-songwriter Lorraine Bowen, known to many in the UK as “The Crumble Lady” because of her quirky song about making a crumble (an English dessert). I met her for dinner in London in January 2013, and loved learning about how she got started in music…

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Throwback Thursday 17: Artist By Design

The 17th Throwback Thursday is one of four dinners from an April 2010 weekend trip to Providence, Rhode Island. The first was at Camille’s Restaurant with Rhode Island School of Design student Robin Tafel, who was pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Looking back at this article, I realize…

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Dine With A Stranger, Share Your Story

Do you have an interesting life story? Want a free meal? Join me for dinner! If you’re interested, it’s pretty simple — just meet with me at a restaurant of your choice for a relaxed interview where you tell me about your interesting life/career/hobby/invention/whatever. I’m based in the DC but…

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Throwback Thursday 16: Teresa’s Toys

The 16th dinner interview was my afternoon tea in December 2009 at Alice’s Tea Cup in Manhattan talking with New Yorker Teresa Suarez, learning about her side career selling sex toys and other adult products — just one of her three jobs. An unlikely setting for an adult-themed conversation, but…

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Throwback Thursday 15: They Call Him Mister Fry

Here’s the 15th Throwback Thursday: Dinner in New York at Tony’s DiNapoli with actor Jack Fry back in December 2009. Before we met, I saw his one-man show “They Call Me Mister Fry” which tells the true story about his first year as a teacher at a high school in…

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Jonathan Blum Hits The Road

Artist Jonathan Blum, a portrait painter featured on this site as the 101st dinner stranger, has just announced the shows where he’ll be presenting his unique works in the coming months. If you live in either New York or Washington, DC, I can highly recommend trying to meet Jonathan; his…

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