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Portland restaurateur Ken Gordon is bringing a French-inspired chicken residency to Southeast Portland this summer.
Bon Temps Poulet—literally “good time chicken,” a play on the Louisiana expression “laissez les bontemps rouler”—opens June 10 outside of Gorges Brewing Co.’s location in Southeast Portland.
The chickens in question are free-range, dry brined, and roasted in a rotisserie built outside of the restaurant off the Ankeny Rainbow Road Plaza. Half and whole birds are available, as well as a chicken sandwich on baguette, a chopped chicken salad, dirty fries, and a chicken gravy poutine. All birds come with rotisserie-roasted potatoes, a side, chicken jus and a selection of sauces crafted by Gordon.
The rotisserie set up is inspired by the three years Gordon lived and worked in Paris.
“It seemed like every butcher shop you were at had a rotisserie machine out front with the potatoes that cooked on the base of it,” Gordon tells WW. “It sounded like a good idea. They were really good.”
While Gorges Brewing Co. is open every day of the week, the Bon Temps Poulet menu will be available Wednesday through Sunday. It runs alongside the brewing company’s current menu, which includes tacos, burgers, and other pub fare.
Long-time Portlanders will recognize Gordon’s name from his previous projects, most notably Kenny & Zuke’s Delicatessen, which closed at the end of 2023, less than a year after relocating to North Williams from its downtown location.
More recently, Gordon was the man behind the deli case at Sheridan’s Fruit Company, but that store closed in February after 110 years in business.
Now, at 71, Gordon says he’s “getting a little old to be starting restaurants” but “jumped” at the opportunity to collaborate with an existing business. After 49 years in the restaurant industry, Bon Temps Poulet “felt a little gentler than everything I’ve done in the past,” he says.
CHECK IT OUT: Bon Temps Poulet at Gorges Brewing, 2724 SE Ankeny St., 503-455-4674, gorgesbeer.com, 3 pm–9 pm Wednesday and Thursday, 3 pm–10 pm on Friday and Saturday, 3 pm–9 pm Sunday.
