Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with today’s special guest Elli Benchimol. Elli is the owner of Apero and La Boheme – she is an Advanced Sommelier - and most recently a RAMMY winner for best wine program of the year! Join us for a delightful and delicious conversation about caviar, wine and champagne, automatic gratuity, the res…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with our super special guest Lynda Erkiletian. Lynda is a mother of four, the founder and CEO of THE Artist Agency, and was famously a Bravo star on the Real Housewives of DC. She is an avid philanthropist, a lifelong entrepreneur and a really joyful and engaging person! Join us at the always fabu…

Welcome to a very special Lunch with Shelley podcast featuring my Dear Ole Dad – who just turned 95 years old! My father is my hero – my mentor – one of my favorite people on the planet – and the greatest Dad and Poppy in the world! He is also a decorated vet, an accomplished and successful businessman and entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a father o…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with Barbara Langley, the Director of the Center for Women’s Economic Empowerment at CIPE, the Center for International Private Enterprise. Barbara and I have a wonderful time discussing the importance of Gastro Diplomacy, which is a super cool way to connect with other cultures through food, her …

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with our special guest Darrell Henry. Darrell has sincere and historical experience with all thing’s Convention, so during a lovely outdoor lunch at the delicious Claudio’s Table, we go into a deep dive on the importance of conventions in general, some very funny memories, and of course the lay of…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley featuring Susan Page - journalist, biographer, political commentator, Washington DC Bureau Chief for USA Today and author of the fabulous NYT best seller Rule Breaker, the Life and Times of Barbara Walters. Susan is an incredible woman who writes about incredible women – so join us at the always d…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley featuring our very special guest Beth Solomon – founder of the Georgetown Dish and author of the very fun read Dishy Dollups from the World’s Most Important Neighborhood. Along with Claude we’re at the iconic Martin’s Tavern tucked into the Madeleine Albright booth, and we have a very joyous lunch…

Welcome to the 2nd Mother’s Day episode of Lunch with Shelley! It’s one of my very favorite episodes of the year, and to celebrate this special holiday we have my beloved son Sam for his second appearance on the show, our fabulous producer and friend Claude, and making his debut we’ve included the wonderful and always entertaining Jerry the dog to …

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with our very special guest Kellyanne Conway, the first woman in US history to successfully helm a presidential campaign, one of the top pollsters and cultural anthropologists in the nation, a bestselling author, and a joyful Mom of four teenagers! Kellyanne is her usual delightful and insightful …

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley featuring this week’s very special guest Doris (RIS) Lacoste. RIS is an American chef, restaurateur, philanthropist, and community leader and owns RIS, a GREAT American bistro. RIS has one of those life stories that are so varied and fascinating you won’t want this lunch to end! Tune in while we e…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with our special guest - the sunny and brilliant Margaret Spellings! Margaret is a nationally recognized leader in public policy - and currently serves as President & CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center. Her remarkable and extensive leadership experience in both state and federal government includ…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with this week’s special guest Dr. Lee Morgan. Dr. Morgan is my dog’s beloved veterinarian and a member of the elite veterinarian corps that contributes to the storied Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which he portrays in his newly released book “Four Thousand Paws.” Join us for a truly unique conver…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley featuring our new friend and strategic communications maven Alex Rosenwald. We’re dining at Georgetown’s iconic Peacock Café, and we’re at the perfect table in the corner for Alex’s first visit here! Alex is the Senior Director of Communications at The Hill and Talent Relations for News Nation. He…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with special guest Susan Holt. Aside from being a great friend and superb neighbor, Susan is a very accomplished chef and culinary teacher, so we take her to LUNCH at Claudio’s table for her very first dining experience there! After graduating with honors from L’Academie de Cuisine, one of the top…

Welcome to the latest episode of the Lunch with Shelley podcast, featuring this week’s special guest Vin Weber, my longtime friend and the second Weber to be on the show! Vin is a Partner at Mercury in Washington, D.C. and is one of the most prominent and successful strategists in the Republican Party, enjoying strong bipartisan relationships acros…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley featuring this week’s special guest Bruce Mehlman, a partner at Mehlman Consulting, the author of very popular quarterly decks focused on political and policy trends, and despite his best efforts, a pretty optimistic guy! Bruce is a highly sought-after keynote speaker who regularly headlines busin…

Welcome to the first episode of Lunch with Shelley in 2024!! I have a super awesome guest to kick off this year with, my very dear friend Jane Adams, and we dine at the fabulous Palm restaurant with terrific sound engineer Blanca Vega, so this is a really fun and fascinating LUNCH to join and listen to! Grab a seat at our booth and listen in as we …

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley recorded for the first time from one of our new favorite lunch spots Claudio’s Table. Our special guest is my friend and colleague Anita McBride. Anita is the Executive in Residence at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies in the school of Public Affairs at American University. She…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with my great pal and very fun guest Julie Chase. Julie is the President & CEO of ChasePR, a full-service national media relations and marketing communications firm based in Washington, DC. She is also a fellow frequent diner at Café Milano, so join us over pasta, burrata, prosciutto and vitello t…

Welcome to the latest episode of LUNCH with Shelley featuring special guest Matt Brooks, the Chief Executive Officer of both the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), an organization dedicated to enhancing ties between the Jewish community and the Republican Party, and the Jewish Policy Center, a think-tank that examines public policy from a Jewish pe…

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley! Our super interesting guest is Delayna Watkins, who is the CEO of Total Woman Wellness, Inc., a comprehensive health enterprise dedicated to women's midlife wellness and healthy aging. As a board-certified registered nurse with extensive clinical and leadership expertise, she has gained recogniti…

Join us for a behind the scenes conversation about all the thought that went into creating the new and delicious Claudios Table – and a mouthwatering description of some of the new dishes you can look forward to!By Shelley

Welcome to the latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with our special guest Shawn Townsend, President and CEO of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington. Claude and I tucked into our favorite table at Et Voila to meet Shawn for the first time, since LUNCH is always perfect for meeting a whole spectrum of acquaintances, and in this case to…

WELCOME to the NEW season of LUNCH with Shelley featuring our very special guest Marlene Colucci, CEO of the Business Council, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for GXO Logistics, and a very dear friend of mine! Join us as we dine at the fabulous Café Milano over lots of seafood and champagne while we discover how and why Marlene came to DC, wha…

Season 2 of LUNCH with Shelley is ready to launch!By Shelley

Dine with us during the last dog days of summer with the super fun and accomplished Lisa Camooso Miller and guest producer Cleavon Davies at the ever fabulous Et Voila! In our last summer episode we talk about everything from how Lisa got to DC from NJ, to the trials of teaching teens to drive, to how to get your creative flow going. WARNING - this…

Welcome to the ONE YEAR Anniversary episode of the Lunch with Shelley podcast! Claude and I celebrated together at the ever fabulous Cafe Milano - just us - for a fun, relaxing lunch together on a beautiful summer day. We chat about how we first met and how the show began, along with just regular lunch conversations that range from going to the mov…

Welcome to the latest Lunch with Shelley podcast featuring our uplifting and fascinating guest Michael Petricone, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). While dining at our favorite booth at the Palm over salads, shrimps and truffle pasta, we talk all things tech – what’s the latest in tech, what M…

Hello and Welcome to a Super Special Episode of Lunch with Shelley! I cannot underscore how important this episode is to me because it features my hero - my Dear Ole Dad. He is funny, smart, kind, and generous, and I am the luckiest girl in the world that he is my father. As I write on my website, even my love of lunch began with my father. Ever si…

GOOD HEALTH ALERT!!! Join us this week for what is an incredibly interesting, moving and VERY important episode for your health and wellness!! Our guests are the incredible Drs. Christy Teal, Chief of Breast Surgery and the Director of the Breast Care Center at the George Washington University Hospital (among many other titles) and Rachel Brem, Dir…

This week’s podcast features the fabulous Suzanne P. Clark, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Join us at the popular Peacock Café in Georgetown for a very informative, wide-ranging, and fun conversation about everything from small business issues and the current thinking on AI to favorite lunch spots and cheris…

Just in time for Memorial Day Travel! Join me and Claude for LUNCH at Black Salt with our very special guest and mutual friend Jean Card! Aside from our big love and admiration for Jean, there would also be no Lunch with Shelley podcast if Jean hadn’t introduced the two of us to each other so we are eternally grateful to her and couldn’t wait to di…

SPECIAL MOTHERS DAY EDITION ALERT! To celebrate what might be my best Mother’s Day yet - MY SON SAM agreed to be our very special guest for this very special Mother’s Day edition of Lunch with Shelley. For anyone who has known me over the last 26 years or less, they know that the central focus of my world, and my extreme pride and joy, is my son Sa…

Welcome to our first ever Bonus Episode all about the Grateful Dead with special guests Matt Rosenheim – President of Tiny Jewel Box – and Mike Melore – General Manager of the very excellent Palm restaurant in Washington DC. We hope you enjoy some fun stories about favorite concerts and some true fan experiences – and that this episode inspires you…

Welcome to Lunch with Shelley! Join us for a great chat with this week’s awesome guest and my good friend Matt Rosenheim who is the President of the very fabulous Tiny Jewel Box, a real Washington Institution! I like to think of the Tiny Jewel Box – or TJB – as Washington’s Tiffany’s or Cartier, but better in many ways because it’s truly unique to …

Bonjour listeners! In today’s very special episode, Claude and I are back at Et Voila with Sylvain Frances, the restaurant’s beloved and omnipresent General Manager. Sylvan joins us to discuss everything from his extensive travels that led him to the United States and eventually to Et Voila, his favorite pastimes including his penchant for cooking,…

This week’s very special podcast guest is Betsy Fischer Martin. Betsy is an Emmy-winning journalist, television news executive, the Executive Director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University, and the Founder of her own consulting firm Fischer Martin Media. Betsy began her career at NBC News and ended up working there for 22 years, …

Today’s special guest Ashok Bajaj is both a ‘gastronomic powerbroker’ and considered one of the 50 most powerful people in Washington DC! With decades of unique restaurant and entrepreneurial knowledge, Ashok walks us through his journey through Washington over the years, his favorite aspects of the restaurant business, and what he loves about each…

In this week’s episode of LUNCH we dine with the great Mary Beth Albright – author, food correspondent, litigator, Iron Chef Competitor and all around great gal! Join us as we discuss Mary Beth’s new book “Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being” which dives into the field of nutritional psychology to reveal what the science shows: t…

In today’s episode “Midwestern Cool and the Palm Show” we have LUNCH at the Palm restaurant with Michelle Korsmo, President, and CEO of the National Restaurant Association - an association we care deeply about! She is also a great Mom, wife, sister, daughter and dear friend, and our conversation ranges from how restaurants are faring after Covid, t…

Join us for our latest episode of Lunch with Shelley with the iconic Laurent Menoud - the grand master of Cafe Milano. In this episode you’ll learn a lot of about the restaurant business in general - how Laurent came to be Milano’s go-to guy - how much care goes into every detail of the Milano experience - and how this restaurant in particular deal…

Welcome to the FIRST Lunch with Shelley Episode of 2023!! Our first guest to help us ring in the New Year is my dear friend Chrissy Mulvihill. Chrissy and I chat practically every single morning – which we’ve dubbed our Morning Call – and it’s part of the fabric of how I start my day. We talk about everything - big things and little things – so tru…

Join us for an ‘off the menu’ compilation episode that recaps the fun we’ve had with our fantastic guests this year at www.lunchwithshelley.com. We’ve loved having LUNCH with YOU too – and look forward to a very fun new year filled with peace, love and of course more LUNCH! Happy New Year from Shelley and Claude…

Today’s lunch guest is my long-time pal Carl Hulse. Carl is the chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times – he plays drums in a band, he has awesome DC stories, and he is an incredibly nice and funny person! In today’s episode we talk all about Washington - favorite places to visit, great holiday spots, insider stories about well-known …

Join us for LUNCH at Et Voila with Special Phillippa Hughes. Phillipa is a social artist – as in her art is to bring people together in conversation. In fact, she was recently described as an artist who uses people instead of paint! We loved our conversation with her about Paris – recent family revelations – and what it really means to be an Americ…

Come have lunch with me, Claude and our guest Karen Kerrigan at Black Salt! Karen is a tireless and impactful advocate for small business and entrepreneurship - a great mom - a loving daughter - a fantastic athlete - a dog lover - and a very fascinating person to dine with! In today’s episode we talk about food and dogs and small business issues – …

Join us for lunch at Café Milano with special guest Laura Cox Kaplan – the great host of the compelling podcast She Said/She Said! I have been an avid listener for years – and was so excited to talk to Laura about how and why she started her podcast, why she is focusing on influence this year, and what influence really means to her and her guests. …

Welcome to Lunch with Shelley! Today’s guest is Howard Mortman. He is easily one of the funniest people I have ever met – and he is the esteemed author of “When Rabbis Bless Congress” which I highly recommend! Today’s podcast also takes place for the first time at the Lafayette restaurant at the Hay Adams Hotel. Eating at the ‘Hay’ as we call it is…

In today’s special birthday week edition - we’re speaking with family! My sister Nina came to town, and among so many titles that she holds in my life; sister, friend, and confidante to name a few, she is also a very spiritual person and a great reminder for me about an alternate way of thinking that sometimes seems so different from the norm in Wa…

Today’s lunch is with a new friend! Her name is Jamie and she is someone I met through my Pilates class several years ago. I always thought she seemed cool and interesting, and it turns out she is! While I always promote lunch as a great way to get to know someone, I also thinking that having Jamie on the program was ‘meant to be’. While she and I …