Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
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…
Steve Hayes (dinner interviewee 118) will be co-hosting an online event on Sunday December 13 at 8pm where he promises to reveal the secrets of dubbing voiceovers throughout Hollywood’s history. Steve is the creator of the YouTube series “Tired Old Queen at the Movies” where he adlibs for about five…
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 utterly charming BBC radio presenter Zeb Soanes (the 28th dinner interviewee) in recent years has also turned to writing children’s books about Gaspard, “the handsomest fox in London” and his adventures in England’s capital. Zeb writes the books along with illustrator and author James Mayhew, and they recently announced…
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,…
Legendary Hollywood character actor Stephen Tobolowsky (the 66th dinner interviewee) is also a great storyteller, writing two books of anecdotes about his fascinating life and career. He also shares tales from his past on The Tobolowsky Files, a podcast that took a hiatus starting in June 2017 but recently returned and…
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…
During the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants have grappled with how to adapt to a takeout or delivery focus rather than in-house dining — and many are struggling with whether they can stay afloat. I’ve written before about the different ways that chefs and restaurateurs that I’ve interviewed for Dining With Strangers…
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…
This is very short notice, but if you live in DC and want a good laugh, check out Alex English’s standup show on Saturday October 31. Alex, the 112th stranger featured on this site, will be performing an outdoors socially distanced set at 8pm, though doors open at 7.30pm. The…