'Comeback Calamari,' Cranston Chef Star In Democratic Convention

CRANSTON, RI – As appetizing as calamari might be to foodies across the country, its off-the-charts popularity among Rhode Islanders likely wasn't known to the rest of the nation — until Tuesday night.

Calamari, typically prepared in Rhode Island with garlic, parsley and sliced cherry peppers, found its unlikely way onto the national stage during the Democratic National Convention.

As states cast their votes for Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders in a series of 30-second videos, Cranston native John Bordieri – the executive chef at Iggy’s Boardwalk Lobster and Clam Bar in Warwick - appeared on a beachfront with state Democratic Chairman Joseph M. McNamara, who cast 34 of the state’s 35 votes for Biden.

Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, state delegations cast their votes remotely during the traditional roll call instead of on the convention floor in Milwaukee. Each announcement was delivered in a way designed to display state pride, but only Rhode Island chose to make food - and more specifically, calamari part of the main dish.

Bordieri told Patch Wednesday that Iggy’s sells about 500 pounds of calamari each week at its three locations in Warwick and Narragansett. The squid comes in a few times a week from vendors in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, making the appetizer a staple for the restaurant – and now, Bordieri predicts, the rest of the country.

“I didn’t realize how popular this was going to be,” said Bordieri, who has experienced a flood of social media attention to his Facebook and Instagram accounts and who started a new Twitter account, @CalamariNinja since Tuesday night’s appearance.

“People relate to food," he said. "Food makes people happy.”

In the video, filmed on Oakland Beach in Warwick, a masked Bordieri stood alongside McNamara holding a platter of calamari. In pledging 34 votes to Biden, McNamara referred to Rhode Island as the “calamari comeback state.”

McNamara conceded that calamari is available in all 50 states, but he only in Rhode Island is it considered the official state appetizer.

“Rhode Island, the Ocean State, where our restaurant and fishing industry have been decimated by this pandemic, we are lucky to have a governor, Gina Raimondo, whose program lets our fishermen sell their catches to the public,” McNamara said.

The 30-second video took about 30 minutes to film, according to Lynn DeSousa, the assistant to Iggy’s co-ownership. She said that McNamara approached the restaurant about including calamari in the video to help showcase Rhode Island’s dedication to the fishing and seafood industries, both of which have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Iggy’s uses a proprietary recipe, developed by owners David and MaryAnn Gravino, that includes special breading and a particular mix of banana and cherry peppers, Bordieri said.

“You need people who know how to cook it properly,” he said. “It’s not just something you batter, drop and fry and then go. It’s a little more intricate than that.”

Despite his 15 minutes of fame, Bordieri – who isn’t overly connected to politics or any particular candidate – plans to go about his daily life as usual.

“No matter who they put in (the White House), you’re still going to go to work, you’re still going to do your daily grind and everything else,” Bordieri said. “They do what they do for whatever (reason) they do it for – to help drive the economy and to help people, but for the most part, I go to work every day and do my job and make people happy through my food.”