Six days.

That's how far away Dinner Club is as you're reading this. Next Wednesday, Downtown Duluth, 7:00 PM, a room full of neighbors who mostly haven't met each other yet.

I want to tell you what actually surprised me about the first one.

It wasn't just that people showed up — I hoped they would. It was how fast it stopped being awkward. I had braced myself for a long, painful first twenty minutes. Instead, somewhere around the time the food hit the table, the volume in the room went up and never came back down. And by the end of the night, one table was calling itself "our table" like it was a thing that had existed for years.

About one out of every three people who came that night booked the next one before they left.

I've made a lot of things for this county. Reels, videos, this email. I'm proud of all of it. But it all happens on a screen, and there's a ceiling on what a screen can do for somebody who's lonely in a county of a million people.

A table doesn't have that ceiling.

Six days. Let's fill it.

Wednesday, September 9 · 7:00 PM · Downtown Duluth · 21+

If you've been telling yourself you'll "get around to it," this is the week that sentence expires.

1. Take the quiz.

A few quick questions. We use your answers to match you with 5 neighbors you haven't met.

2. We handle everything else.

We book the restaurant. You find out where the morning of. No group chat. No "so where does everybody want to go." No one person stuck planning it for the rest.

3. Show up hungry.

Good food, real conversation, zero logistics on your end. Come exactly as you are.

4. Stay for the after-party.

When dinner wraps, every table converges at one surprise location. This is the part nobody expects and then nobody shuts up about.

You can go to every single event I list in this email and still drive home without meeting anybody. I've done it. You probably have too. You go to the thing, you stand near people, you have a nice night, and you leave with the same number of friends you showed up with.

Dinner is the oldest technology we have for turning a stranger into a person. You sit down across from somebody, you both order, and forty minutes later you know something about them a comment section would never have told you.

Six days. Wednesday, September 9. 7:00 PM. Downtown Duluth.

Seats go fast — the last one filled up. Hope to see you there!

Can't make the 9th? Get on the list at that same link and you'll be first to hear about the next one.

Saturday, September 5 · Gwinnett Field

2500 Buford Drive, Lawrenceville, GA 30043 · Parking $9 per car

Saturday is the Ronald Acuña Jr. bobblehead giveaway — a Stripers-uniform version of the 2023 NL MVP, handed out at the gate while supplies last. That means getting there early is the whole strategy. Saturdays at the ballpark also come with giveaways and appearances as a rule.

Quick note if you haven't been this season: the ballpark is Gwinnett Field now. Same seats, same nachos, new name out front.

Why I'd send you here: a bobblehead giveaway is the one night of the season where the line outside is part of the fun. Bring the kid. Get there early. Let them hold it the whole ride home.

👉 Schedule and tickets

Sunday, September 6 · 2:00–5:00 PM · FREE to walk through

Slow Pour Brewing, 407 N Clayton St, Lawrenceville, GA 30046

Local makers and artists set up inside the taproom for three hours on Sunday afternoon. Taproom's open from noon.

Why I'd send you here: it's the exact right size. Not a festival, not a whole day, no parking nightmare — just an easy hour downtown where you'll probably buy something small you didn't plan on.

👉 See the calendar

Monday, September 7 (Labor Day) · 3:00–6:00 PM

StillFire Brewing, 343 US Highway 23, Suwanee, GA 30024

Trey Odum is playing a Labor Day afternoon set. Three to six — which is the correct window for a holiday Monday, because you're home in time for dinner and you still feel like you did something.

Why I'd send you here: Labor Day afternoon is the most wasted three hours on the American calendar. Everybody's home, nobody's working, and most of us end up scrolling. Go sit outside and listen to somebody play instead.

👉 Event details

(And a reminder from Tuesday: county offices, all libraries, and every city hall are closed Monday, Ride Gwinnett isn't running, and your trash pickup slides a day later all week.)

Every week I find one place in Gwinnett that deserves more love. This week it's...

2420 Wisteria Dr SW #6, Snellville, GA 30078 · (770) 985-9985

A family-owned diner that's been feeding this community for more than twenty years, which in restaurant math is roughly forever.

Here's the move: they serve breakfast all day and they're open until 8:00 PM Wednesday through Sunday. So you can walk in at 6:30 on a weeknight and order red velvet waffles for dinner like an adult who has earned the right to make his own decisions.

If you want the real diner experience instead, get the country fried steak. If you want the safe answer, the burgers and club sandwiches are exactly what you're picturing, and that's a compliment.

Retro booths. Regulars who clearly come every week. Nobody rushing you out.

Hours: Monday & Tuesday 7 AM–2 PM · Wednesday–Sunday 7 AM–8 PM.

Why I'd send you here: because this is the anti-fancy date. It's cheap, it's warm, and breakfast for dinner is undefeated as a way to make an ordinary Tuesday feel like you did something on purpose. Take your spouse. Take your kid. Take yourself and a book.

👉 Menu and hours

Now tell me yours — what's the diner or hole-in-the-wall in your city that's been there forever and never gets talked about? Hit reply. I read every single one, and the best ones end up in this section.