Gabriel Rucker's Portland: Where the Award-Winning Chef Eats on His Nights Off

Gabriel Rucker is one of Portland, Oregon's most decorated chefs, bringing edgy, progressive, and original dishes to hungry diners all over the city. After just a few years of working in a kitchen, in June 2006 Rucker opened Le Pigeon to national acclaim. He went on to open several other spots, including Canard, which garnered a number of accolades (including being named Portland Monthly's Restaurant of the Year and one of Eater's Best New Restaurants of 2018), and Little Bird, named Best Restaurant of the Year by the Oregonian in 2017.

For all of his tireless work, Rucker has been recognized with James Beard Awards for Rising Star Chef in 2011 and Best Chef: Northwest in 2013, not to mention nominations every year from 2016 to 2019. Today, we're sitting down with this cool, innovative family man to talk about what he eats when he's off work.

Gabriel Rucker’s Night-Off Philosophy

"It's not about relaxing. I'm not good at that. I'm working on relaxing. For me, time off is about finding a balance. Right now, what I'm doing for my own personal health and growth is running around in the wilderness of Oregon, and training and trail-running and pushing myself. And also connecting with my wife, and spending time with my kids. If I get to go and do a nice run two times a month, then that's great. Three times is awesome. But I love spending time at my house, being outside, and just seeing where the wind takes me."

How Rucker Gets the Most Out of His Day (or Night) Off

"A truly ideal day off for me would be to wake up very, very early, drive out to the mountains, and go on a long trail run. Come home before it's too late and have brunch with the family. And then I would want to either go to the river and go swimming with everybody, or spend some time in the garden. Turn the sprinklers on, let the kids run around, and spend time in my garden. I'm really into growing flowers and plants and landscaping my new house. And then the day would end at my family restaurant: Mike's Drive-In.

Or, who knows, maybe we would get a babysitter and I'd get to go on a date. When I go out, for the most part, I don't want to go out to eat and feel fussy or uptight. Luckily, in Portland, it's very hard to find that. I want to be relaxed, and I want to not have dinner take too long. I'm not the type of person who wants to sit at the table for four hours. But my ideal night out would be for me to pick a restaurant that my wife is very happy with, that has yummy food that's slightly healthy and slightly hip. Because I like to take my wife out to hip places. She likes to go to the hip joints."

Rucker’s Favorite Places to Eat in Portland

Redwood

"Redwood is one of my favorite spots that you'd probably never hear about. It's in my old neighborhood of Montavilla, and it's a place that we love to go and have breakfast with the family. We don't go as often as we used to because we moved out of the neighborhood. They do a great chilaquiles, as well as a really fantastic deep-fried crispy cornmeal waffle that my kids—and my dad, when he’s in town—absolutely love."

Cinco de Mayo Taqueria

"For a hole-in-the-wall-type place for lunch, there's Cinco de Mayo Taqueria. It’s located in our new neighborhood, just one town south of Portland, called Milwaukie. (That's i-e instead of e-e.) They make these crazy-fluffy corn tortillas, and the tacos are honestly quite big and filling. And just absolutely delicious. I love the al pastor and the pollo."

Mike’s Drive-In

"Another place I love is called Mike's Drive-In in Milwaukie. It’s our new favorite family-friendly place. I have three kids, ages two, five, and seven, so a lot of our go-to dining-out options are places that you'd want to go to with your kids. You don't really want to take those creatures out to a nice meal, because you might as well just light money on fire and it would be less frustrating.

Mike's Drive-In is an old-fashioned diner. You drive in, and it's a gravel driveway. There's railroad tracks. There's a long dirt gravel driveway. You order from a window. It takes a little while, because it's pretty busy. We usually bring a bunch of our kids' bikes and scooters and sit at picnic tables while the kids just bike, scoot, and run around while watching the trains go by. And you eat bacon cheeseburgers and have soft-serve. It's basically what Dairy Queen aspires to be. It’s the most perfect way to wrap up a good summer day, when you're spending it outside, enjoying life.... It just feels like it's what I want my family life to be like."

Ava Gene’s

"For a meal without the kids in tow, Ava Gene's is an Italian restaurant that's always on my list. I haven't been in a little while, but it's really fun to go. The pasta's great, the vegetable-focused menu is fantastic, and the chef knows his way around vegetables. I usually center my meal around the vegetable dishes, and then I'll throw in a pasta or two. Maybe one of their raw dishes, you know, or a crostini-type thing. It's kind of a fancy, see-and-be-seen type of place."

Coquine

"The other place that I really like, that's more of a nicer, go-out-to-eat restaurant, is called Coquine. It's also in Milwaukie. It's at the top of Mount Tabor, and the best way I could describe it is California cuisine in Oregon. And I hope that she doesn't shoot me for that—it's a wonderful chef named Katy Millard. But the food isn’t too touched. It's also pretty vegetable-focused, but there's protein. She has a fairly light hand and doesn't try to do too much, which for me is really appreciated, because I put a lot of flavors and textures and layers on my dishes. I really appreciate when chefs do what I don't do, and do it well. Because, to me, it's fun to go out, eat, and see the opposite of my cooking."

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