Who’s Coming to Dinner?

[hillvalley]

Dead: My Grandfather, Mr. Rogers, Elenor Roosevelt and President Kennedy

I'd have James Beard cook it in the kitchen of my great grandfather's deli. Great Grandpa's pickles would be sitting on the table in our family's pickle dish.

Alive: James Watson, Alice Waters, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tom Hanks.

I'd have Tony Bourdain cook the meal and we would dine somewhere in Tuscany.

[elfin]

R. Tagore

Julia Child (I would have her select the menu and wine)

S. Diagilov

Robin Williams

[Mudpuppie]

Julia Child (passe, I know), Stevie Ray Vaughan, Janis Joplin, and, ahem, Jodie Foster.

[fifi]

Thomas Jefferson

Winston Churchill

Richard Feynman

John Cleese (for fun and interpretation of the other three)

[Marlene]

My next four would be:

Clark Gable

Cary Grant

Henry VIII

Mary Queen of Scots

[Squeat Mungry]

Vladimir Nabokov

James Beard

Dorothy Parker

Duke Ellington

[VeryApe77]

Bill Murray

Peter O'Toole,

Alfred Hitchcock

Sarah Silverman

[reesek]

living - jon stewart, bill clinton, bill maher, & bf - so we could discuss it later.

dead - frank sinatra, bette davis, grandpa mitchell, and an ashtray.

[42feed]

Alton Brown, Jeff Schaara, David Letterman, Etta James.

[Fresser]

I'd pick Bernard Malamud (author), Roger Ebert (Chicago movie reviewer), Pierre Fermat and Jackie Mason.

[Arey]

W.A. Mozart, F. J. Haydn, Doc Schaeffer and Garbriel Deutsch. I'm assuming there would be a pianoforte in the room and while having coffee the first two would be tossing off melodies and doing all sorts of marvelous improvisational things while Doc Schaeffer and I would be listening, and when necessary, Doc would tell Gaby to be quiet in the most tactful way possible.

It's not that I don't want to talk to anybody, it's just that anybody I want to talk to has gone and died. Talk about lack of consideration for others

[Pan]

Julia Child (passe, I know), Stevie Ray Vaughan, Janis Joplin, and, ahem, Jodie Foster.

No ahem necessary.

I spent parts of two days with Ms. Foster (friend of a friend of my aunt) in Tuscany in 1991 and found her extremely intelligent, an excellent conversationalist who's genuinely interested in what everyone else is doing and thinking about, and a gracious and witty person. I thoroughly enjoyed making her acquaintance.

[winesonoma]

WC Fields, Groucho Marx,Robin Williams, Tommy Smothers. I'd be the straight man. Tommys wine.

[jsolomon]

Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and James Morrow.

Satire a la carte.

Edit to add fourth person, Warren Embree, an old buddy/employer of mine.

Edited February 7, 2004 by jsolomon (log)

[paul mitchell]

Bourdain, Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski and Abbie Hoffman at French Laundry with enough time to shoot off some shotguns in the garden between each course.

[paul mitchell]

...........I am clearly embarassed to have forgotten Liv Tyler (in Lord of Rings get-up) as our waitress.

[Mudpuppie]

Bourdain, Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski and Abbie Hoffman at French Laundry with enough time to shoot off some shotguns in the garden between each course.

My god. Hope there's a designated driver.

[Katherine]

...........I am clearly embarassed to have forgotten Liv Tyler (in Lord of Rings get-up) as our waitress.

I think you should go for Parker Posey.

[Cynthia G]

Night 1: Robert Frost, Timothy O'Sullivan, Mitchell Feigenbaum, Leo Kottke

Night 2: Tatanka Tyotanka (Sitting Bull), Billie Holliday, David Sedaris, Doyne Farmer

[Toasted]

David Sedaris

David Sedaris is one of my favorite writers. I'm telling you, I have laughed

myself out of a depression by reading his books. Yup, he's invited for dinner

but I'll have to think about the other three.

[ruthcooks]

In food mode, I'd choose four cooks whose recipes sound as though they cook and eat the way I prefer: Bert Greene, Nathalie Dupree, Michael Field, and, if they could count as one, Jane and Michael Stern (for "Real American Food"). If not, then the delightful Irina Chalmers.

If I need a lift: Jackie Gleason, Dave Barry, Johnny Carson and Erma Bombeck.

If I need a little love: David James Elliott times four (in dress whites, please)

[McDuff]

Maurice Ravel, Mark Twain, William F. Buckley Jr. and Emma Thompson.

The idea of shooting shotguns in the garden of the French Laundry with Bourdain is absolutely irresistible. Saw him a little while ago on a journey back to France where he spent part of his childhood. Quite wistful.

Edited February 9, 2004 by McDuff (log)

[Pan]

I used to watch Buckley's TV show when I was a kid, and I always thought that he was the Devil, what with the way he archly twinkled his eyes at his guests to try to control their minds.

Is Buckley known for being a connoiseur of fine food and wine?

[AzRaeL]

...........I am clearly embarassed to have forgotten Liv Tyler (in Lord of Rings get-up) as our waitress.

no no no... have her in the "one night at McCool's " get up.

[KarenS]

MFK Fisher, Mick Jaggar, Alice Waters, and Bill Clinton.

Wolfgang Puck would cook the dinner.

Good conversation and good food!