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| Gadsby's Chef Robert Gadsby featured in southernliving.com (at Bedford, his former Huston, Texas restaurant) |
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| Open kitchen |
We were literally the only people in the restaurant for a late Sunday lunch. Since it was their first weekend lunch service and the word is still getting out about the new restaurant, we know this will be the last time we don't need a reservation. The restaurant is soon going to be stuffed with hungry customers.
The decor is still all Greystone Grill (including the sign outside), but it was always a cool, modern restaurant. Check out the open kitchen and large stone water fountain.
What's changed? The lunch menu is all Gadsby's - soon to be followed by the dinner menu after the holidays.
Although there were plenty of places to sit - 2 large dinning rooms - we choose the bar area to watch the Raven's game on a big flat screen TV.
We each decided to try a different sandwich on the menu, which all came with a side of Idaho fries.
Thomas ordered the Herbed Chicken - grilled chicken, roasted peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, pepper Jack mayo on a sesame seed bun. At Thomas's request the server put the avocado on the side. He didn't think he would like the roasted peppers but they added a sweet touch to the grilled chicken. The lettuce was cold romaine - just the way he likes it crisp and plentiful.
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| Herbed Chicken |
I ordered the Smoked Turkey - grilled smoked turkey breast, honey mustard, lettuce and tomatoes. The honey mustard sauce was the bomb - the sweet and savory sauce complimented the smokey flavors in turkey. I only wish the honey mustard sauce was a little thicker.
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| Smoked Turkey |
My dad ordered the Pit Beef - roast beef, horse radish, onions, toasted bun and Idaho fries. He doesn't normally order this type of sandwich, but he was glad he did. He said "the tender and well seasoned meat combined with the horse radish dressing was interesting and delicious."
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| Pit Beef |
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| Texas Road Side Burger |
My mom couldn't decide between the "V" Burger (eggplant, mushrooms, dirty rice, kale, tomatoes, and BBQ sauce) or the Texas Road Side Burger (black angus beef, onion marmalade, honey glazed bacon, lettuce and tomatoes). She choose the latter and wasn't disappointed. She said it is now one of her top 10 favorite burgers. The honey glazed bacon was the deal breaker.
After we finished our meal, we met Chef Robert Gadsby, the former kick-boxer turned world-class & celebrity chef and Food Network's American Iron Chef competitor, who is a very cool dude in his own right. This British-born chef, has traveled the globe and studied cooking under some of the world's top chefs.
He told us the encounter changed the way he cooked. The chef focused his cooking "as if people were eating food with their sense of taste first." This meant adding "depth of flavor" but only subtle hints that would not overpower the main ingredient's natural flavors.
Right after he told us the Stevie Wonder story, Chef Gadsby invited us to come back for a taste testing of some of his new creations. What a lunch!!! We can't wait to go back. Stay tuned for another Gadsby's Bar American post soon.
Gadsby's Bar American - 8850 Columbia 100 Pkwy, Columbia, MD 21045, 410-715-4739.
Thanks for the review! This is right by my house and will have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteI just came home with my family from Gadsby's Bar American. I met my sister-in-law with her family along with my brother -in-law. I have to say that we were greeted nicely at the door. There was seven of us in the party and we ordered our meal at 8:28pm. Most of our party had appetizers and our dinner came out at 9:20pm. For me I had ordered their Pepper Crusted Filet Mignon to be served "medium". When my plate was put in front of me I had to take a double look at my plate on how "SMALL" the filet was, but what was most disappointing is that my filet was nothing but a "BLACK BURNT WELL DONE" piece of meat. You would have had to be a blind person not to see this. Very obvious someone in the kitchen screwed up and thought they would get away with sending it out. I immediately had it returned while everything started on their dinner. Now 20 minutes later, yes 20 minutes my meal finally arrived and my filet was now served "RARE". By this time everyone had finished their dinner and the waitress asked if it was OK to have it cooked correctly. To me be honest I was done with this place. I just said to box up my meal and I would take it home. Dessert was ordered by a few and my nephew had their Black Forest Truffles. He cut some of them up and shared them with the party. Now you would think that this would be that nice smooth rich chocolate taste. Everyone who tasted it went immediately to drink some water since there was a heavy spice flavor to the chocolate. Oh man just kick me when I am down. This had to be the worse chocolate I ever had in my life. The water would not get rid of the taste in my mouth. I had to pull the lemon from my drink and suck on it to get rid of this terrible taste. Most of us made issue of this, and we commented that this had to be noted on the menu. The staff understood my situation and they gave me a $50 gift certificate to come back to the restaurant. Nice gesture, but I will "NEVER" come back to Gadsby's. I still had to pay for the meal and I gave the gift certificate to my sister-in-law. To be fair everyone at my table liked their meals, but it is very obvious that there is some type of a disconnect in the kitchen. The restaurant appeared not crowded and it was cold and snowing when we arrived.
ReplyDeleteI worked for Mr. Gadsby many years ago. The problem with him and his restaurants is his own personality. He is not a people person at all. I'm not going to go here how he treats his employees, but I have to say that I've never seen anything like that -and I worked in 14 restaurants, all over the world.
ReplyDeleteThe work place atmosphere is unhealthy and sickening. No one enjoys working for him. Of course, someone right out of culinary school may be glad to be there first, but that'll change soon. That unhappiness among employees certainly reflects to food and service.
It's a pity since he is quite creative chef. I've discussed about him with other ex-Gadsby employees and everybody agreed; his own personality will eventually drag down all of his enterprises. We also felt sorry for his wife and family.