The highlight of my recent trip to Portland (food-wise) had to be Saturday dinner at Le Pigeon. It's the new place to be (apparently), and Chef Gabe Rucker definitely proved he's got the chops to live up to being on Food & Wine's list of the best new chefs.
The restaurant is on a a funky little stretch of E. Burnside, and the brick-walled space can't help but feel like some cozy little French bistro. In a lot of ways, Le Pigeon reminds me of Dennis Leary's Canteen here in SF. Small space, open kitchen, hipster-foodie aesthetic. In Le Pigeon's case, that translates into bottles of Miller High Life and Mad Dog displayed alongside fine wines. I meant to ask if I could get a glass of the kiwi-lemon to go with my grilled asparagus, but I forgot.
The asparagus came with a radish salad and brown butter vinaigrette. Then I went with the duck three ways, because, well, ducks and three-ways are pretty much where it's at. Way number one was (for lack of a better term) a duck finger, in all its crispy delicious deep-fried glory. Way number two was an awesome sliced duck breast with a plum sauce. Ways one and two were stacked upon way number three, which was a sort of duck hash with lentils. Tasted like yum.
I was also lucky enough to snag a few bites of beef cheek Bourguignon, as well as the roasted chicken with leek carbonara. Everybody seemed incredibly happy with the meal, and then dessert came along and blew us away all over again. In particular the apricot cornbread with maple ice cream and bacon. Yes, bacon. Portland is clearly in the midst of some sort of bacon renaissance, and personally I'm all for it. The three or four other desserts were also amazing, though I can't remember what they were. What I do remember is one of my dining companions taking one bite of the cornbread/bacon/maple concoction and immediately calling over the waitress to order another one. It sounded a little screwy at first, but hot crispy bacon is in fact a perfect topping for ice cream.
