You know how I say that one of the best parts of any convention is leaving that convention for a meal with friends? (A belief, by the way, which eventually caused me to create my podcast Eating the Fantastic.) Well, the meal I had last Friday night during an escape from Capclave with Natalie Luhrs and Aaron and Angela Pound proved my point.

A couple of days before Capclave, I learned that Range—which I’d visited many times before, one of those times being for a meal on a break from last year’s Capclave—would be holding a two-day pop-up by Charleston’s Jeffrey Stoneberger, chef and owner of 2Nixons, which has earned itself quite a rep for its take on Asian street food. And the first of those two days happened to be the first day of the con. So you know I had to be there.

Stoneberger had previously staged at The Fat Duck and Noma, so you wouldn’t expect him to be the sort of chef to turn his hand to ramen and yakitori. But that’s what he’s done. And the food he put before us last Friday proved worthy of that lofty resume.

Here (rather belatedly, and briefly, as it’s been a crazy week) what we were served that night.

Shishito yakitori
(umeboshi, miso, smoked chili)

Dried shiitake yakitori
(matsutake, miso, charred lime)

Live scallop and oyster
(yuzu, fire-roasted fermented garlic, Old Bay furikake)

Koshihikari socarrat okonomoyaki
(scrapple, bonito, hot sauce)

“Popcorn” chicken wings
(Palm sugar, lime kosho)

As you can tell, I loved, loved, loved those wings

Local blue crab shia ramen
(Autumn Olive Farms pork belly, farm egg, Amish sweet corn, smoked pickled mushroom, crab pickles, scallion, aged kimchi)

Plus—beautifully decorated chocolate bonbons

Everything was amazing. 2Nixons has earned its buzz. Believe the hype.

After the meal, I had a chance to chat at length with Stoneberger. And yes …

… that is a Star Wars T-shirt he’s wearing!

Maybe this means that in addition to me sneaking off from science fiction conventions to restaurants, chefs ought to start sneaking off from restaurants to science fiction conventions.

Entropy!