Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
Louisa Hall, the ukulele-playing singer-songwriter featured as the 57th stranger on this site, will be performing in early August as part of the 10th anniversary of “The 9 Songwriter Series” — a group of musicians working together to play larger venues than they would be able to book alone. When…
In July 2010 I traveled to Philadelphia for a weekend to meet friends, and made time to do another Dining With Strangers interview. Today’s throwback is to the 24th stranger; restaurant critic blogger and photographer Albert Yee. He moved to the city several years ago knowing little about it, but…
Want a good laugh? Check out comedian Alex English on his visit to Washington, DC, this weekend. Alex was the 112th stranger featured on this site; we met in his hometown of New York last October for a lengthy breakfast chat about how he first got interested in standup comedy…
The 23rd Throwback Thursday is the second of two interviews from my July 2010 trip to California; this one with Winston Geiseke who at the time was managing editor of a blog for the gay porn publishing company Unzipped that produced magazines and more. We met at Dear John’s Restaurant in Culver…
Sad news courtesy of the Washington City Paper’s Laura Hayes, who reports that Dean Gold will soon close his DC Italian-inspired restaurant Dino’s Grotto. In May 2018 I met Dean for dinner at his restaurant for the 106th Dining With Strangers interview. It was his second attempt at making a…
Throwback Thursday 22 is one of the most-read interviews on my site; lunch in Los Angeles with gay for pay porn actor and escort Malachi Marx (not his real name) back in July 2010. The original version of the article on the old Dining With Strangers site had a lot…
Visiting New York for World Pride? Want something fun to do on Friday June 28? Buy a ticket for the one man show “Steve Hayes Is So Inclined,” taking place at 7pm. Steve, the 117th stranger featured on this site, is the host of the YouTube series “Tired Old Queen…
In the decade-plus that I’ve been doing Dining With Strangers, I’ve had a handful of interviews that justified splitting into two parts. My May 2015 dinner in Beverly Hills with actor Fred Melamed (A Serious Man, Girls, Curb Your Enthusiasm) and his wife Leslee Spieler Melamed was one of those….
The 21st Throwback Thursday is my May 2010 lunch at Muriel’s in New Orleans with voodoo queen Mary Millan. A very easygoing and interesting person, she dispelled some myths about the religion of voodoo and also had plenty to say about life in the Big Easy. In addition to my…
Toyin Alli is the chef-owner of Puddin’, specializing in Cajun and Creole comfort food operating in DC out of a food truck and a stand at Union Market. On a recent weeknight I met Toyin for the 119th dinner interview; a chat about what got her started in the food…