I love food! To me, food offers comfort and security. In addition, cuisine is a cultural expression and represents an opportunity to more thoroughly understand and appreciate a particular culture or region. When traveling I make it a point to taste local specialties as a way of enriching my travel experience. Someone recently suggested that I share my favorite restaurants with my readers because of my great interest in food. Keep in mind that food preferences are very different from person to person and also that a restaurant experience is about so much more than the food.

As we travel from place to place, we recognize that there are many restaurants which are particularly popular with locals, people who live or work in the neighborhood. We can usually rely on these restaurants for good, wholesome food at reasonable prices. Here are my favorite restaurants in this category:

1. Governor Francis Inn, 1251 Warwick Ave., Warwick, RI

2. Culinary Affair, 650 Oaklawn Ave., Cranston, RI

3. Greenwood Inn, 1350 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, RI

4. Crossroads Pub, 133 Market St., Warren, RI

5. Chester’s, 102 Putnam Pike, Harmony, RI

6. Richard’s Pub, 3347 South County Trail, East Greenwich, RI

7. Cafe Andiamo, 235 Greenville Ave., Johnston, RI

8. Campanella’s, 930 Oaklawn Ave., Cranston, RI

9. Frank & John from Italy, 186 Main Street, East Greenwich, RI (I call this place “2 guys” and I love their chicken parmagiano)