Taking strangers to dinner and interviewing them about their lives since 2008
Actor/writer Jim Piddock, star of almost countless plays, television shows and movies — including Christopher Guest’s “Best In Show” — is baring all. In his new autobiography, “Caught with My Pants Down”, he dishes on his lengthy career and journey from England to Hollywood. Jim was the second interview on…
Had to come out of semi-hibernation to note a well-deserved award for Chef Frank Brigtsen. Frank is the owner of Brigtsen’s restaurant in New Orleans, where I met him for a dinner interview back in September 2017. It’s a local landmark and consistently one of the best reviewed restaurants in…
Happy 2022! Thank you to everyone who keeps checking on this site or stumbles upon it. Sadly, the dinner interviews are still on hold due to a number of complications (new job, old pandemic, and more) but hopefully one day I’ll get to finally do the 132nd meal with a…
Jane Lynch and Kate Flannery are back on the road to sing some songs. The hilarious actresses, featured together as the 116th dinner interview back in January 2019, have known each other for decades and turned their love of singing into some live shows — and they’ll be performing them…
Apologies for the dearth of updates since March, but Dining With Strangers is still on hold. At the start of the pandemic, I suspended my project of meeting strangers for meals at restaurants to interview them about their life stories — an idea at odds with lockdowns and social distancing….
Chef Deborah VanTrece, the 130th dinner stranger and owner of the restaurant Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours in Atlanta, is hosting a virtual launch party at 6pm on Tuesday March 16 for “The Twisted Soul Cookbook: Modern Soul with Global Flavors.” “I’ll be cooking up a few recipes from the…
The 80th dinner interview was a reunion with several strangers in New Orleans. In September 2015, roughly one decade after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, I met with three long-time residents of the Crescent City who have previously been featured on Dining With Strangers, hosting a group meal at Antoine’s. In…
Medium Rare, the DC-based steak frites restaurant owned by the 113th dining stranger Mark Bucher, is planning an East Coast expansion. Mark told the Washington Business Journal this week that he’s looking to Baltimore as the next location for the restaurant, which offers diners a simple set menu of salad, freshly…
Merry Christmas! If you’re looking for something festive to watch online today, check out “A California Christmas” on Netflix. In the film’s credits you’ll see that the cinematography was done by Brad Rushing, the 93rd dinner interviewee. I met Brad, who lives in Los Angeles, when he was on a…
Given that I’ve put dinner interviews on hiatus until the coronavirus pandemic is over, there won’t be a festive-themed meal with a stranger this year like my December 2011 dinner with Santa Claus. Instead, I wanted to post something in memory of my late friend and former interviewee Margarita Pracatan….