Gabriel Rucker Portland Or

Asked & Answered | Gabriel Rucker - NYTimes.com

It’s early in the evening on a Tuesday, and Gabriel Rucker is in a winning mood. The chef and restaurateur, who first gained national attention in 2007 for his restaurant Le Pigeon in Portland, Ore., is this year’s recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year award, an honor reserved for chefs under 30. His work at Le Pigeon draws from classic technique, the ample larder of Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the character of Portland itself — equal parts divine and dingy, local and wild. Rucker’s latest venture, Little Bird, opened in late 2010 and is more of a classic bistro in style and setting, with a fascinating cocktail list, cheap beer selections and strokes of clever embedded throughout the menu; think enormous marrow bones with balsamic vinegar onions presented à la Fred Flinstone, or a sorbet and ice cream course served in pastel miniature egg cartons.

Rucker also manages to find joy from sources other than his two packed, well-reviewed restaurants and national accolades. “There was a huge Giants game earlier today,” he says by way of introduction, “and my wife taped it for me.” After a day spent prepping in the kitchen for the week ahead, The Moment caught up with Rucker in a noisy, industrial-chic bar on the Portland riverfront.

I actually did go to college: Santa Rosa Junior College. My first day was English and history, and I liked that, but on the second day it was math — and I said to myself, “There’s no way I’m going do this.” So I went to the college adviser, and he told me I would be more suited to a vocational program. I pointed my finger at the cooking one.

And that’s it? That’s the story of Gabriel Rucker, James Beard Award-winning chef?

Haha, not entirely. I mean … my mom is a schoolteacher with a master’s from Berkeley, and Dad was a little more wild. I messed up a lot when I was a kid, and they knew it, they’d seen it all before. My first real job in food was at a bagel place; I was in high school, and I would go out all night in San Francisco, take ecstasy and go to raves, then come back to Napa and make bagels for seven hours. You can print that. The place was called Kirk and Glotzers New York Bagels. They’ve been out of business for a long time, but it was my favorite job I’ve ever had in my entire life. Are you back in Napa often? Where do you eat when you’re home?