Chef Gabriel Rucker

Le Pigeon, Portland, Oregon

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5.0 out of 5 stars(1)

Le Pigeon

738 E. Burnside St.
Portland, OR 97214
P: 503.546.8796
lepigeon.com

Portland’s dining scene is more casual than the ones in New York, San Francisco and Chicago. It is also a more affordable city to own and operate small businesses—from restaurants to clothing boutiques to art galleries. This has led to a trend towards relatively small chef-owned eateries opening in neighborhoods throughout the city. Le Pigeon, helmed by Gabriel Rucker, its 29-year-old proprietor and chef, is a leading example.

The self-taught Rucker is a bit of a rogue chef. Born and raised in Napa, Calif., Rucker abandoned culinary school to relocate to Portland, Ore., to capitalize on the emerging restaurant scene. His approach to cooking is highly imaginative and quirky.

Le Pigeon features an inventive French-American menu, which Rucker changes on a whim. He visits the farmers’ market several times each week for fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. The menu has ample fowl, game and offal offerings, but also features seafood and classic items. Yet even the classics have a twist, like the beef cheek bourguignon and saffron mussel potato salad. Rucker notes that the beef cheek contains the collagen line, which makes the meat moister than chuck beef or stewing beef that is typically used in beef bourguignon.

Recent dinner items included such appetizers as pigeon with foie gras, grapes and Riesling, and pheasant with shiitake mushrooms, mizuna and garlic. Entrees included pork with squash and truffled mushrooms, roast squab with a frisée and duck confit salad and duck liver vinaigrette, as well as lentil-stuffed cabbage with chanterelles, apples and shallots. Desserts have a savory component to them. The chocolate tart, for example, is accompanied by sea salt and mint pesto, while a new profiterole dessert features foie gras ice cream.

Rucker, who was a 2010 James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year nominee, shares his recipes for poached quail with gnocchi and foie gras vinaigrette and Le Pigeon’s signature dessert, cornbread cake with bacon topped with maple ice cream. Rucker also discusses his unique approach to cooking and Americans’ willingness to try more adventurous and exotic foods.