Rod Anderson on high stakes and high steaks

​OK, so 2010 has not been a very good year for restaurateur Rod Anderson. In June, the owner of the Hereford House steakhouses and the upscale Pierpont’s in Union Station was indicted by a federal grand jury on arson and mail-fraud-conspiracy charges in an alleged $2.5 million scheme to collect insurance after torching the original Hereford House restaurant at the corner of 20th and Main streets.

Four months after the indictment, Rod Anderson is still greeting guests at Pierpont’s — where he has now assumed general manager duties — but he’s 25 pounds lighter, thanks to the stress of a legal situation that he calls “a nightmare.”