Dinner at Gordi’s Place

From cashier to cook and back again, notorious Dining Commons personality brings all of campus to his home for some comfort food.       

Gordon “Gordi” Davis brought his home-style meatloaf to the Zorn Dining Commons for dinner on March 9. Along with his meatloaf with onions, salsa and mushrooms was a corn casserole with an onion soup dip in it, potatoes with sour cream and cream of chicken soup and steamed carrots with a maple syrup glaze.

“This is what I have at home,” Davis said.       

You don’t have to go far to find someone who is familiar with Gordi. He’s a cashier and chances are if you have eaten at the Dining Commons you’ve passed by him. Freshman  Dan Busta is just one of many students who        

“He definitely comes off as a wicked nice, chill guy,” Busta said. “He’s always walking around helping people who are hard of seeing.”       

Busta eats two or three meals a day at the Dining Commons. And while his favorite is Chicken Patty Wednesday, he was among the crowd who were able to try some of Gordi’s meatloaf.       

“It was delicious,” Busta said.       

Junior Rachael Battis also got a chance to try out some of Gordi’s meal.        

“It was a good idea,” Battis said. “Everybody knows who Gordi is.”      

While she doesn’t eat at the Dining Commons as often as Busta, she still eats there about once a day.      

The Dining Commons staff knows the value of Gordi, including Josef Quirinale, the general manager.       

“Gordi is a favorite among a lot of the students,” Quirinale said.       

So when someone suggested Gordi prepare the meals one night, and that he would like to do some of his own specialties, Quirinale said he was open to the idea.      

The Dining Commons Staff knows that students might get bored with repetitive dining options.  “How could you not be when you eat 19 meals a week here,” Davis said.       

So the management is always interested at opportunities to try something new, like Dinner at Gordi’s.       

While the event had started with a simple suggestion, Gordi had been talking about his home-style meals for a while beforehand.        

“Two of these recipes I’ve been telling them about for a year,” Davis said, referring to the corn casserole and the creamy hash potatoes.        

The experience did take it’s toll on Gordi though. He had cooked for the public before, such as the local moose lodge, but that’s not the same as making dinner for a couple thousand people.

       “It could’ve been the second coming of whoever you think is the boss up there and I would’ve missed it,” Davis said.      

He also said that making three hundred and fifty pounds worth of ground beef into meatloaf worked muscles he didn’t know he had.      

When all was said and done, and eaten, both Gordi and Quirinale felt it went very well.       

“Gordi had a particular recipe that is a particular favorite in everybody’s home,” Quirinale said. “Just about everybody likes meatloaf.”       

The Dining Commons workers try to offer variation from the norm whenever possible, such as root beer and creamsicle floats, which were offered two days after “Dinner at Gordi’s.”      

Quirinale has been talking to other managers about opening up this opportunity of home recipes to students.

      “They wouldn’t put in the sort of day Gordi did,” Quirinale said. “Which was 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.”       

Instead students could share their recipe, have the staff prepare it and then help the staff serve it.      

“I think I’d like to do that sometime after spring break,” Quirinale said.