One of New Orleans’ signature culinary items is the poor boy, or po’ boy, sandwich, and Parkway Bakery & Tavern is among its most popular vendors. It was founded in 1911 but closed in 1993. Then along came Jay Nix. For the 108th interview, in September 2018, Jay told me…

For the 107th interview with a stranger, in September 2018, I traveled to Brooklyn for lunch with actor Erick Lopez. At the time, he was well known for his role as Hector in the comedy musical TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Over a relaxed meal at a diner, Erick shared how…

The 106th dinner interview featured Dean Gold, the owner of Washington, D.C., restaurant Dino’s Grotto. We met at the Italian-inspired venue in May 2018, where he talked at length about the place and much more. Dino’s Grotto was his second attempt at making a success of a dining venue, after…

Growing up in Detroit, Jamila Robinson loved to cook with her grandmother. She’s kept that passion for food throughout her life, putting it to good use in a series of editing roles at major news organizations around the country curating stories about food and dining. Jamila later moved to Washington,…

André Hueston Mack left a successful career in the banking sector to indulge his true passion of wine, becoming a sommelier at some of the United States’ top restaurants. He gained major attention as the first African-American to win the Best Young Sommelier in America in 2003. A few years…

The 103rd dinner interview was my January 2018 meal with Mustafa Santiago Ali, an environmental justice expert. During a 24-year career at the Environmental Protection Agency, Mustafa Santiago Ali focused on environmental justice, which is addressing disproportionate adverse pollution impacts on low-income and minority communities. In March 2017 he quit…

Character actor Kurt Fuller has been in countless movies and TV shows — Ghostbusters II, Wayne’s World, Psych, Midnight in Paris, much more — and yet people still come up to him asking, “How do I know you?” Kurt’s fine with being “that guy” people recognize but can’t quite place,…

Portraits of rabbis blessing basketballs. Llamas with fruit on their heads. Foreheads — just foreheads — painted alongside strange, thoughtful objects. Welcome to the wonderfully weird world of Jonathan Blum. For the 101st dinner in December 2017, I joined the Brooklyn-based artist for a meal at Rasika in Washington, D.C….

Since 1986, Frank Brigtsen has owned and operated the namesake restaurant Brigtsen’s, a New Orleans landmark. For the 100th dinner interview, in September 2017, Frank talked with me about how he got into cooking, training under the famous Chef Paul Prudhomme, and how he set up his own place —…

Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, Sebastian Arcos started to turn against the Castro regime in his late teens. His family, including his internationally noted dissident father, became targets of the government. For the 99th dinner interview, in Miami in July 2017, Sebastian told me about his eventual move to…