Did Portland just have its best James Beard Awards ever? No, but it’s close

The text arrived as I was setting the table. “You were right,” it read. “GG wins.” Unlike my friend and fellow amateur James Beard Awards prognosticator, I had paused the annual ceremony’s livestream to eat family dinner. But after wolfing down a small bowl of spiced chicken and rice with my kids, I tuned back in and there, live, was the “GG” in question, Portland chef Gregory Gourdet, addressing the crowd gathered at Chicago’s Lyric Opera Monday evening for the …