Kann is a Haitian restaurant by

Gregory Gourdet Gregory Gourdet (born ) is an American chef, writer, restaurateur, and former finalist on the twelfth and seventeenth seasons of Bravo's American reality television series, ''Top Chef''. He is of Haitian descent. He is the owner of the restaur ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

Description

The restaurant's name means "cane" or "sugarcane" in

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; ht, kreyòl ayisyen, links=no, ; french: créole haïtien, links=no, ), commonly referred to as simply ''Creole'', or ''Kreyòl'' in the Creole language, is a French-based creole language spoken by 10–12million people wor ...

. Downstairs is Sousòl, a pan-Caribbean cocktail bar. Kann Winter Village's menu included chicken soup with epis-rubbed thighs, potato dumplings, and root vegetables.

History

In 2019, Gourdet announced plans to open Kann in 2020. However, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

forced delays. During the pandemic, Gourdet hosted pop-up restaurants, including Kann Winter Village, which was sponsored by

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

and operated within yurts in the

Redd on Salmon Street The Redd on Salmon Street is a "campus" for food businesses and event space in southeast Portland, Oregon's Buckman, Portland, Oregon, Buckman, in the United States. The $25 million project was started in September 2015 and completed in December ...

parking lot. American Express platinum card holders were given early reservation access, followed by other card holders, before opening up to the general public. Kann Winter Village operated for five months. Initially announced to open in July 2022, the brick and mortar restaurant began operating on August 4. In 2023, Kann and Deadstock Coffee collaborated to launch a custom coffee blend.

Reception

Waz Wu included Kann in ''

Eater Portland ''Eater'' is a food website by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in 2005, and originally focused on dining and nightlife in New York City. Eater launched a national site in 2009, and covered nearly 20 cities by 2 ...

'''s 2023 list of "Portland’s Primo Special Occasion Restaurants for Vegans and Vegetarians". Kann received the 2023 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, presented by the James Beard Foundation.

References

External links

* * {{Restaurants in Portland, Oregon 2020s establishments in Oregon Buckman, Portland, Oregon Haitian restaurants Haitian-American culture Latin American restaurants in Portland, Oregon James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant