Hungry?

Then let’s go to dinner.

Launched in late 2008 by me (Anthony), Dining With Strangers is a long-running interview series where I invite people to share their stories over dinner at a restaurant, bar, café, or hot dog stand of their choice.

The guest list so far includes actresses like Jane Lynch and Kate Flannery, the Swiss ambassador to the U.S., acclaimed New Orleans chef Frank Brigtsen, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, D.C. journalism legend Eleanor Clift, and over 130 others — charity workers, artists, writers, adventurers, and more, whether well-known or not.

The site was featured in a lengthy Washington Post profile, if you’d like to learn more about how it started and hear what past guests had to say about their experience. Scroll down this page to see other press coverage over the years.

I’m based in Washington, D.C., but open to interviewing people anywhere in the U.S. or overseas. Feel free to reach out, wherever you live, or check my upcoming travels to see if I’m heading your way.

I’ve been a journalist for more than 20 years, working in newsrooms in the U.K. and the U.S. This site is a personal project to spotlight anyone with a story to tell, whether it’s a strange career path, a fascinating life story, a product to promote, or just a good reason to be featured online.

If we meet for dinner, I’ll bring a notepad, a few questions, and an open mind. We’ll start there.

A few important points:

  • This is strictly platonic
  • I’ll pay for dinner, but we can split it if you’d like
  • Keep the dinner location reasonable; no $1,000 venues
  • Your photo will run with the interview

If you’re interested, click here to arrange dinner!

You can also send an e-mail to mail@diningwithstrangers.com.

The site also has sporadically updated Bluesky, Facebook, Substack, YouTube and X pages.

PRESS FOR DINING WITH STRANGERS

A couple of news organizations have been kind enough to feature this site. Here are links to some of the coverage I’ve had in print, radio and television:

WASHINGTON CITY PAPER (March 4, 2014)


While reporter Perry Stein was working at the Washington City Paper, she found out about this site and wanted to interview me about it. After a quick chat on the phone she wrote a nice article about Dining With Strangers — the first press coverage I ever received.

THE WASHINGTON POST (August 13, 2015)


Washington Post reporter Mike Rosenwald turned the tables (pun?) by taking me out to dinner at The Pig in the District and asking me about the site. He was far too kind about me in his article, which you can read here or by clicking on the picture above.

CANADA AM (August 20, 2015)


Soon after the Post article ran, I was contacted by the television show Canada AM to do a brief interview with them about the site. Similarly you can click on this link or the picture above to watch that. Somehow, despite being bleary eyed from the early morning wakeup for the show, I managed to make it through the five minutes sounding vaguely coherent and without falling out of my chair. Success!

CJAD 800 (August 20, 2015)


A few hours after the Canada AM show I was on the air with Barry Morgan, host of a talk show on Canadian radio station CJAD 800. The one thing I learned from that interview? I need to stop saying “errrr…” so much between sentences.

TAKE 3 (October 19, 2015)


Take 3, a weekly podcast by Danielle Sills and Sara Shookman of WKYC Channel 3 in Cleveland, Ohio, featured Dining With Strangers in the October 19 update. I didn’t know they were going to talk about my site for 10 minutes, but I’m very grateful that they did because they had some very nice things to say about it.

WASHINGTON CITY PAPER (May 1, 2018)


Laura Hayes, food editor of the Washington City Paper, reached out in April 2018 to do an interview about the upcoming 10th anniversary of Dining With Strangers, which launched in November 2008. During a meal at the restaurant Hazel in Washington, DC, I talked with Laura about the various strangers I’ve met over the years, including several who have become good friends.

CONSTANT WONDER (February 13, 2019)


Brigham Young University’s radio show Constant Wonder reached out to do an interview about Dining With Strangers, and I had a fun chat for about 20 minutes with host Marcus Smith. Click above or on this link to hear our talk, which starts around the 22:40 mark. We covered a lot, from why I started the site to how I find the strangers, and from how I keep the conservation going with someone I’ve never met to whether I’ve had any terrible experiences.