Interviewing strangers over a meal since 2008 (as featured in the Washington Post)
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…
The 84th dinner interview took place on December 29, 2015, with Michael Wood in Willerby, England. He’s an award-winning town crier who loves his work. Although Michael keeps the ancient art of town crying alive and well in his community, it’s just one of many unusual careers he’s enjoyed. During…
Revolution Studios, the software company co-founded by 127th dinner interviewee Charles Cecil, is getting plaudits for the recently released Broken Sword: Reforged — an update to a landmark adventure game first released in 1996. The new version features remastered graphics, improved audio, reworked scenes and more to provide a fresh…
Ines Verbeke was born in the United States but raised in Belgium, and has always wanted to visit the country of her birth. So at the age of 25 she has launched an ambitious effort to cycle across America, starting in the Northeast. During a brief stop in Washington, DC,…