I’ve often joked that when I travel to conventions, I’m not entirely sure whether I’m actually traveling for the conventions themselves, or I’m just traveling to try new restaurants, and there only coincidentally happens to be a convention going on at the same time in that city.

I say “joked,” but really—I think I’ve only been half joking.

I hate having a “meh” restaurant experience. I hate wasting a meal. I hate eating in hotel, because they tell you nothing about a city. I’m sure the McCormick & Schmick’s inside the Providence Biltmore, which is where this year’s StokerCon was being held, would have served perfectly acceptable food. But once inside, how would I have known I was in Providence rather than Chicago? I would have learned nothing about the city.

And so, before attending any convention, I do my research, some of which I share with the Patreon supporters of my Eating the Fantastic podcast. Here are last weekend’s eight meals, three of which were venues for recording future episodes of that podcast, and one of which was, alas, outside of my control.

Angelo’s Civita Farnese

Angelo’s, where I recorded with Paul Di Filippo, has been serving Southern Italian food since 1924. You’ll get to see the full photo set from that meal as soon as Paul’s episode goes live, but I was particularly impressed by its take on calamari, which is so often pretty much the same all over. The Angelo’s version was tossed with hot pepper rings, olives, roasted red peppers, and more, and was a welcome change from the usual. (more…)