Acclaimed Portland chef Gregory Gourdet prepares for the James Beard Foundation

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland’s Central Eastside is home to the 2023 James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurant.

Kann, open for nearly two years, tells stories of Haiti’s history and culture through the cuisine, along with nods to the Pacific Northwest.

Chef and founder Gregory Gourdet is proudly representing the area again as a nominee for Best Chef in the Region.

“Portland is incredible. Oregon is an incredible state – amazing restaurants here, amazing produce,” he said. “It’s absolutely beautiful naturally – it’s one of the reasons I live here.”

He continued, “I’m really blessed and grateful to have my team around me. So I feel like we’re all nominated for this award.”

This year, Gourdet will also cook at the Chicago awards event as one of a few chefs invited to serve the guests at Sunday’s Leadership Awards Luncheon.

“It’s a fairly intimate dinner for 250 folks and we always like to represent the Pacific Northwest with what we do,” he noted.

It’s also a chance for him to show off some of the local ingredients he’s loved cooking with in the 16 years he’s been in Portland. Further, he puts special consideration into using sustainable food.

“Pacific Northwest seafood is incredible because there’s quite a diverse amount of things that we get here from Rockfish – which I’ve served quite a bit of – to all the incredible clams and oysters that we have here, going into all the different beautiful types of salmon that we have here,” he emphasized.

Then there’s the beloved fish he’ll be presenting in the Windy City.

Using wild Alaskan halibut from Clackamas-based Pacific Seafood is meaningful for him, as it meets criteria set by the Marine Stewardship Council – to be given with what’s known as MSC certification.

He marinates the fish in epis, a green seasoning which he describes as the backbone of most Haitian cuisine. It has onions, scallions, chilis and spices.

Chef Gregory then slow-cooks it in a pan before finally adding the final touches, such as a plantain and pepper purée, as well as a ti malice, a Haitian hot sauce.

“It’s a beautiful, beautiful, simple, exquisite fish lunch plate,” he expressed. “And we’re excited to make this at James Beard.”

In addition to Chef Gourdet, an Ashland chef, Josh Dorcak, is in the same category for Best Chef in our Region. For Best New Restaurant, Hayward in McMinnville is being considered. In the Outstanding Chef category, there’s Sarah Minnick of Lovely’s Fify Fifty, a pizzeria on North Mississippi.

Additionally, Chef Earl Ninsom’s Pearl District Thai spot Langbaan is up for outstanding restaurant and North Portland dessert shop Jinju Patisserie is a finalist for Outstanding Bakery.

Monday night, we’ll find out how the six Oregon nominees did.