Just out., April 15, 2011, Page 15, Image 15

OREGON S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE
4
APRIL 15. 2011
eatout •
Clockwise from top left: Sarah Schafer,
Gregory Gourdet, Robert Reynolds.
Boston native returned home for three years
before heading to New York, Gramercy Tavern
and work with Colicchio (also of Top Chef
fame). Within six months, she was promoted
to sous chef—the first female to do so in the
prestigious Danny Meyer organization.
Eventually her talents brought her to the
West Coast, where she worked in San Fran­
cisco before opening up Irving Street Kitchen
last May. The move wasn’t a strictly profes­
sional one; Schafer has family in the area.
“I heard you have healing rain here,” quips
Schafer. “No, really I have visited my brother
and his family here many times and always
wanted to live here.”
When asked if it’s more difficult to be a
woman or an out gay person in the kitchen,
the get-to-the-point chef says, “Being a
woman, of course. No one in the kitchen re­
ally cares if you’re gay—and if they do they
are not worth working for or with.”
That no-nonsense approach blends well
with Irving Street’s style—that with Schafer’s
help is building a loyal following, thanks to
her classical French technique as filtered
through an American regional menu, with a
slight Southern twang. And when she’s not in
the kitchen at work, Schafer can often be
found in the kitchen at home. “The other day
I made brioche and prune-stuffed quail for
my girlfriend. We enjoyed it with a deli­
cious Vouvray,” says Schafer.
“But I do have moments when I love a little
Louis Prima and a good Bolognese.”
Irving Street Kitchen, 701 N W 13th St., 503-
343-9440, irvingstreetkitchen.com. Dinner
served Mon.-Thurs., 5:30-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat.
until 11 p.m., Sun., 5-9:30 p.m.; weekend
brunch served Sat.-Sun., 10 a.m.-2:30p.m.
Gregory Gourdet
Prior to pursuing a culinary career, Gregory
Gourdet was a dreadlocked vegetarian dish­
washer in a Missoula, Mont, deli—as well as
a pre-med student who wound up earning a
degree in French. Those aren’t exactly the
qualifications one might expect of a native
“ Everyone cooks honestly here. You
have to admire that. I also believe
everyone in the scene supports
each other. That is really important
in a small community like ours.”
-GREGORY GOURDET
New Yorker who would then go on to hone
his culinary skills in celebrity chef Jean-
Georges Vongerichten’s famed Big Apple
restaurant dynasty—but Gourdet has always
been a bit of a trailblazer.
The trail would lead Gourdet to Oregon in
2008, when he helped open the Urban Farmer
restaurant in the Nines Hotel before serving
as executive chef for Saucebox. Not long ago
he returned to the top of The Nines, literally,
as Departure restaurant’s chef de cuisine.
When he’s not in the kitchen Gourdet, 35,
is something of a workout fiend. You’ll find
him at the gym both day and middle of the
night. So what makes Gourdet run?
“I am a party animal,” he says. “I have al­
ways been. I spent all my nights [for a decade]
in New York running around, out and about
and clubbing. It was fun as hell but caught up
with me and took a toll. I decided I wanted to
change a lot of things about me a couple years
ago and refocused all that energy into healthy
and positive things.”
Gourdet credits Portland for the lifestyle
change. “I was an overweight smoker with
the wrong priorities a few years back,” he ex­
plains. “Today I am a marathoner, part-time
vegan and yogi. ... I’ve run six marathons
since being here. I have run an ultra-marathon
... I think it’s pretty fierce to say I’m an ultra
runner. I’ve always been one to push myself to
the limits. I think it’s just an edge I got grow­
ing up in the city.”
That edge serves him well at the high-flying
Departure, known as much for its futuristic
ambiance as it is for its cuisine. Gourdet
brings to the table his love of Asian cooking
mixed with Northwest flavors. “Departure is
an amazing place to work,” he says. “It is nice
to be able to offer Portlanders something a
little different ... and fun. I strive really hard
to make delicious, interesting and healthy
food [and] the views from our rooftop decks
are unbelievable any time of day. It only
makes you appreciate Portland that much
more to see how beautiful the city is.”
As for Portland’s larger cuisine scene? “I
had mixed feelings about the cuisine here in
the beginning,” says Gourdet, who explains
that a lot of restaurants “kind of tasted the
same” to him. But, he’s quick to add, “The
resources here are outstanding.... I have been
fortunate enough to befriend a lot of people
in the Portland food scene and I have so
much respect for everything that they do. ...
Everyone cooks honestly here. You have to
admire that. I also believe everyone in the
scene supports each other. That is really im­
portant in a small community like ours.”
Departure, 525 SW Morrison St., 503-802-
5370, departureportland.com. Dinner served
Tues.-Thurs., 4 p.m.-midnight, Fri.-Sat. until
2 a.m.
16 years
young,
locally
owned,
modern &
moving
forward.
“There really
is no place
like hip.”