Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
Where were we? As I slowly get this site back up and running ahead of hopefully resuming dinner interviews later this year, one regular feature that’s returning is Throwback Thursday — a sequential look back at past dinners. The previous throwback update was in March 2021(!) when I shared memories…
The 79th Throwback Thursday dinner happened in August 2015, when I met Barbara Crocker at the French restaurant Le Diplomate in DC. Barbara had just celebrated her 62nd birthday that month, but during the interview she told me she feels like she’s getting younger every year with her busy schedule…
Here’s the 78th Throwback Thursday interview: July 2015 dinner with Meredith Denbow at Jyoti Indian Cuisine in DC. Since moving to Washington, DC, a few years ago, Meredith has been working to grow a local branch of Fuckup Nights. The unusually named organization hosts seminars across the globe where people…
Continuing the throwbacks to prior interviews in order, here’s the 77th interview which took place in June 2015. Jenny Wang was born in China but spent her childhood in Connecticut and rural Pennsylvania, before moving to the District of Columbia to work in public relations. During dinner at Marrakech in…
Today’s Throwback Thursday feature is my 76th interview; a dinner with actor Fred Melamed and his wife Leslee Spieler Melamed in Beverly Hills. We met at The Palm in May 2015 for a very lengthy and highly enjoyable meal, learning about their life stories. Fred has a lengthy filmography that…
Continuing the sequential Throwback Thursday features of past dinner features, here’s the 75th interview: my May 2015 dinner at the landmark Los Angeles restaurant Musso & Frank Grill with its proprietor Mark Echeverria. The restaurant opened in 1919 and has catered to Hollywood celebrities and regular diners alike. It has…
The 74th Throwback Thursday feature is a dinner from an April 2015 trip to Italy for my eldest brother’s wedding. I was in Milan alone for a night and posted on craigslist seeing if anyone wanted to be interviewed for Dining With Strangers. City resident Federico Leidi got in touch,…
For the 73rd dinner with a stranger, in April 2015 I met Craig Schattner at Mintwood Place in DC to learn about his video documentary Dated. Craig said he’d been on more than 100 dates in four years and was still single, and so he launched the series to try…
Here’s the 72nd Throwback Thursday: my March 2015 dinner at Bourbon Steak in DC to meet Jacki Barnett. She’s one of three co-founders of In Christy’s Shoes, an organization that hosts shoe fashion show fundraisers in memory of Jacki’s late friend Christy Levy Peters. During a very enjoyable meal, Jacki…
The 71st sequential Throwback Thursday feature is my February 2015 dinner at DC’s Le Chat Noir with Dr. David Sherer, an anesthesiologist who talked about his plan to retire and focus on his love of writing. He’s already released a book, “The House of Black and White,” about his quest…