Not sure this is worthy of complaining about. If OP has said, "but she's darned good" then that would be clear that the OP believed there was a conception that

Not sure this is worthy of complaining about. If OP has said, "but she's darned good" then that would be clear that the OP believed there was a conception that she would be not good because she was female and/or Asian. But that's not what he said; he said "who is darned good". I don't see giving someone a compliment without a qualifier as being offensive. Can I not say that my black boss is a great manager to work for, or my Indian business partner is really smart?