COOKING HIS WAY HOME

AT KANN IN PORTLAND, OREGON, GREGORY GOURDET OFFERS A DEEPLY PERSONAL INTERPRETATION OF HAITIAN CUISINE.

- KORSHA WILSON

"THE GRIYO TOOK FIVE YEARS TO DIAL IN,

chef Gregory Gourdet says to me in a small office above his restaurant, Kann. It's early afternoon, and the building on Ash Street in Portland, Oregon, is buzzing with team members getting ready for that evening's dinner service: line cooks eating a family meal of pasta and salad, managers printing menus for review, servers polishing glassware and setting up the dining room. Despite the activity going on around us, Gourdet is calm, almost quiet, as he tells me about the most popular dish on Kann's menu.