Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
The mistress of melody Lorraine Bowen is finally getting the recognition she deserves! Lorraine, a delightfully outgoing woman, is a singer-songwriter from England whose hits take on unusual topics. She’s written ballads about waiting in a queue at a post office, or opining about the mysteries of what burger meat…
Stephen Tobolowsky is a great actor, and an equally great storyteller. He’s getting ready to promote his upcoming film The Primary Instinct, a Kickstarter-funded “concert” movie featuring him telling his unique brand of anecdotes. Nothing else. Just Stephen, a camera, and his stories. And I already know it’s going to…
After four years and almost 100 first dates, Craig Schattner is still single. So he decided to try and answer the question of whether the inability to find a long-term girlfriend stems from a problem with him, or with the District of Columbia where he lives. Craig — an experience…
Just back from a trip to Italy (insert joke here about arms being tired). As expected, the food was great in the three places I visited: Milan, Lake Garda, and Venice. Below is a picture of the very first meal I had in the country, a pizza at the fantastic…
April 14-15 marks the 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. But you probably know that factoid, so what’s the connection between that tragedy and Dining With Strangers? Back in February…
Jacki Barnett never intended to be a fashionable fundraiser. But after her best friend Christy passed away from brain cancer at age 33, Jacki and two other friends launched a fashion-focused charitable organization in Christy’s honor. In Christy’s Shoes hosts shoe fashion shows to raise money that the group then…
Great news for former dinner interviewee Matt Bauman — the New Yorker will be appearing in an upcoming ABC reality television show about Next Step Realty, a firm that works with college graduates moving to New York City to pair them with realtors. Matt was one of the founding real…
Maryland resident Dr. David Sherer has fond memories of the African American maid Louise that helped raise him as a child. But the two lost contact in the 1980s. A few decades later, David decided that he needed closure and wanted to reunite with Louise — and to chronicle his…
Ukulele-playing singer-songwriter Louisa Hall — dinner stranger #57 — was on stage at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center recently playing her instrument, singing her songs, and generally appearing to have a great time. You can watch her performance by clicking here. She starts out with her cover of The Decemberists’ “Shankhill…
Gary Krist is a New York Times best-selling author whose latest book, Empire of Sin, is a work of historical non-fiction chronicling New Orleans in the early 1900s. It’s a fascinating story about the battle for the modern city, played out mostly in the notorious Storyville district where prostitution and…