Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
Democratic Maryland state Senator Cheryl Kagan didn’t always plan on a career in politics. But these days she relishes her role representing a large district in the Old Line State. We met for the 89th interview in April 2016, when she told me that the work means she has no…
I’ll be doing the 131st and 132nd dinner interviews — the first in almost five years — next week in London. If you’d like to be featured on this site, simply click here to book a dinner and we’ll take it from there. In the meantime, I’ve been checking up…
Bill and Laura Johnson spend at least half of every year traveling the United States in their motor home. In April 2016, they were passing through Nashville, Tennessee, while I was visiting the city, so we met for the 88th dinner interview. During our lunch meeting the couple told me…
Even when this site was on hold for the last few years, I’ve kept up on news from the strangers I met. And today’s update is about the last interview before pausing Dining With Strangers due to the pandemic and other things. Deborah VanTrece, the 130th stranger I dined with,…
In 2007, Doug Schantz achieved his dream of owning a gay sports bar in Washington, DC, when he opened Nellie’s. Since then, the bar has become a fixture in its neighborhood. In March 2016, for the 87th interview I dined with Doug at the venue to talk about its history,…
Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I’m lining up interviews for restarting Dining With Strangers in 2025, with two hopefully taking place in London during my current trip back to the UK. From late January on, I’m looking for people in the United States — and…
By 2016, Victor Pope Jr. had amassed more than one million followers on Vine, a now-defunct phone app where he performed six-second comedy skits with his offbeat humor. When we met for the 86th dinner interview in February that year, Victor told me his real passion was for standup comedy….
Author Gary Krist — the 70th dinner interviewee back in 2015 — specializes in writing historical non-fiction about key moments in relatively recent U.S. history, including early 20th century New Orleans, Hollywood and more. I met the New York Times-bestselling writer to discuss Empire Of Sin, his book about the…
Back in January 2016, I met Dave Hindman for the 85th dinner with a stranger. During our meal at Ledo in College Park, Maryland, Air Force veteran Dave shared his experiences during “Black September,” a tumultuous time in the Middle East in the 1970s. He said he was planning to…
Want a free meal and to share your life story? Get in touch. I keep threatening this, but in 2025 Dining With Strangers will finally resume. I paused the site during the pandemic and then life intervened in the years since. Now I’m trying to sort out the first few…