Gibson Inn, Apalachicola, Florida **

What a wonderful dining room! Edna Earl just wishes that the food matched the room. They're trying too hard with the food. Calm down, folks. Take a lesson from the Tarrer Inn up the road in Colquitt, Georgia. And look around your beautiful, historic dining room and take a lesson from the space, too. See how very simple and very elegant it is? Subtle, restrained, traditional -- no? Why not just serve good, traditional food rather than try for something all super-internationalized and hyper-gentrified -- something that often doesn't work? (Edna Earl gets the distinct impression that there's one of those Iron Chef wannabes back there in the kitchen.)

For such high-priced food, Edna Earl couldn't get over how UNgarnished the plates were. Restraint is one thing; PLAIN is another. One of the two meals Edna Earl and her chums ate at The Gibson was breakfast. The next day EE's group ate breakfast across the street at Caroline's, and she'll have to say that Caroline's WAY outdid the Gibson -- certainly in terms of how appetizing the plate LOOKED. (Tasted better, too, and offered more choices, and the service was much better.)

Service at The Gibson was fine once EE's party finally got some, but they waited so long (more than half an hour), that one of the group finally got up and got some menus from a stack near the door.

The place just didn't seem to have their act together. Edna Earl thinks they're trying to define themselves. There's such a wealth of good ingredients there in Apalachicola, one of the seafood capitals of the world -- looks like the folks at The Gibson could look to traditions for some guidance.