Dear Gordon Biersch

I've landed in Columbus, OH for the week on business--so no cooking for me this week :-(

But, I've got an open letter to Gordon Biersch-Columbus to write.

Upon arrival, I met up with the Canvass Director here in Columbus, and we dropped into Gordon Biersch for a quick meeting. I had only been to Gordon Biersch a couple of times before--always in Atlanta for Young Democrats functions. I remembered how tasty their Fried Calamari was. Mmmmm, fried calamari. Lemon Juice. The wonderful blend of tomatoes, garlic, and onion that makes for marinara sauce. I'm sooooooo all over that.

The calamari came out a few minutes later, slightly overcooked. And by "slightly overcooked" I mean "as crispy as a bowl of cheerios.

For those of you at home, the cardinal rule of seafood is not to overcook it. The natural flavors of shrimp, scallops, and calamari come out best after just a few short minutes of cooking. 2....3 minutes are usually enough.

Of course, this was wayyyyyy beyond that. The calamari was so overfried it had lost every single bit of it's natural moisture. Words fail to explain how disappointed I was.

I had ordered the fish of the day--grilled swordfish. It wasn't super expensive, and well prepared swordfish is one of my favorite treats. If only I had known when I ordered it how they treat their seafood.

My swordfish arrived overcooked and underseasoned. It was chewy on the outside instead of crisp, a classic sign that it had been cooked for a long time at too low of a temperature. And swordfish is already a very dense fish without a lot of natural oils, so it needs a lot of seasoning to carry it. Not so--I did my best with the table salt and pepper, but in the end everything was seriously bland.

I guess it wouldn't surprise you to hear the vegetables were overcooked, too.

So for those of you at home, learn one lesson. Always. ALWAYS undercook rather than overcook. You can always cook something longer. But once it's overcooked, it's....over.

And avoid chain restaurants. Their food is usually boring. Yawn.

Sorry, Chili's lovers! ;-)