Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
My third dinner interview was in December 2008, my first time meeting Margarita Pracatan, a Cuban singer living in New York who found fame performing the closing numbers for the Clive James talk show in England back in the 1990s. After I started this site, I knew I wanted to…
Last month on a trip to Los Angeles I returned to The Musso & Frank Grill. It’s a Hollywood institution, in business since the days of Charlie Chaplin and over the years a prime spot to see celebrities dining out. In May 2015 I learned about the restaurant’s ups and…
For Dining With Strangers articles I try to avoid returning to the same dining establishments after featuring them — but on Wednesday I made an exception when I returned to the residence of Martin Dahinden, Swiss ambassador to the United States. Martin and I first had dinner at his residence…
Here’s the second Throwback Thursday; my November 2008 interview with actor and writer Jim Piddock. He’s well known for his role alongside comedy icon Fred Willard as the commentators at the dog show in Christopher Guest’s fake documentary Best In Show. But Jim’s career started many years before that role, as…
A few years ago I experimented with doing mini restaurant reviews in order to keep this site frequently updated between dinner interviews (which can range from every week to every few months). It fell by the wayside but I’m eager to post more than just the interviews, so I’m going…
Last January on the Dining With Strangers Facebook page and Twitter, I started posting the old dinner interviews in order every Thursday for (you’ve probably guessed) Throwback Thursday. To get the site itself updated more frequently, I’m starting the feature here. Click here for the very first meal, with my…
Bernie Clifton, 82, is a legendary British comedian and singer, perhaps best known for a slapstick routine running around on stage in a goofy ostrich costume while he cracks punny jokes. But I recently learned there’s much more to his life story, from his early handyman jobs through to recent…
Next month, the DC Central Kitchen will mark 30 years of taking donated wasted food and turning it into meals for the homeless and non-profits. That’s just one of many services the organization offers, such as a culinary training program for jobless adults so they can get work and “leave…
I forgot about this, but late last month was the 10th anniversary of Dining With Strangers. The first blog post went up on November 25, 2008, in which I announced the launch of the site. I also linked to the inaugural dinner with a stranger, #1 My Dinner With Joseph….
Mark Bucher is co-owner of Medium Rare, a restaurant business with four locations in the Washington, DC, area offering a very simple menu: bread, followed by salad, then two servings of steak frites. It’s simple yet successful. Medium Rare frequently appears on local and national “best of” lists for steakhouses….