I’ve had many culinary firsts, and can easily remember them all. There was my first octopus. My first foie gras. My first meal in a Michelin-starred restaurant. My first sous vide. My first suckling pig. My first guinea pig. My first visit to a restaurant on the World’s 50 Best list. My first durian.

But a first I’ve never experienced before is visiting a restaurant run by a chef I’d originally met when he was a toddler. That took place Sunday night in Portland at Chef Gabriel Rucker’s Le Pigeon. I was supposed to dine there with Gene O’Neill, with whom I’d attended Clarion in 1979. Gene’s kids used to babysit Rucker when the families were neighbors, and I apparently met the future chef during one of my visits to Napa. Who knew that chubby cheeked kid would turn out to be a world-class chef?

I was supposed to head over to Le Pigeon with Gene the Friday night of last weekend’s World Horror Convention, but my old Clarion pal cancelled out on the con. I wasn’t going to let that stop me from hitting Le Pigeon, though, especially not after getting a look at its amazing menu. Which meant that Friday night was given over to Pok Pok, and I made Sunday reservations for Le Pigeon.

I ended up going with Ellen Datlow (who’s joined me for other fine dining outings), Portlander Leslie What (who shared a ton of local foodie tips), and Greg Chapman (an Australian with whom I co-presented this year’s Stoker for Superior Achievement in a Graphic novel).

Le Pigeon is set up for communal dining, and I was glad we arrived before the four others who were to join us, because our rectangular table narrowed as it jutted out from the wall, and if we’d been on the outside, that would have meant less room for food. And since the many dishes we ordered were large and beautifully plated, we needed all the room we could get.

We ordered three appetizers, but ended up with four, thanks to Gene’s babysitting connection and my Clarion connection to Gene.

The starters  we ordered were—

Pork belly (hamachi, endive marmalade, orange, cocoa)

Pigeon (blood sausage, cipollini, asparagus, yolk)

Foie gras (melon, prosciutto, grapes)

Joining them was our server’s surprise gift—

Spring Chinook salmon (honey mustard, sweet herbs, radish, almond)

The pigeon was the most stunning of all the starters, as you imagine it might have to be if that’s what you’ve decided to call your restaurant. Once the pigeon meat was gone, we used our bread to mop up all that blood sausage. But the tender pork belly was joined by interesting flavors, the foie gras and melon combination was groan-inducing, and the salmon and almonds not only sorts rhymed, but went well together.

For the main courses, Greg ordered—

Flatiron steak (grilled little gem lettuce, ramps, bone marrow vinaigrette)

Ellen chose—

Garganelli (asparagus, parmesan, morels, pistachio)

Leslie went for what I almost went for—

Duck confit (miso, snap peas, shiitakes, strawberry-turnip chutney)

And I, as usual, chose whatever on the menu I least have the opportunity to eat—

Sweetbreads (grilled mackerel, carrot, celery, lovage, curry)

We of course passed around small bites of what we each had ordered, so we all got to taste everything. I’m still glad I ordered the sweetbreads—I’d never had them with curry before, and it worked—but the duck confit came in an awfully close second for me. Don’t think that means any of the entrees was less than excellent, though.

For desserts, we shared—

Foie gras profiterole, caramel sauce, sea salt

Milk chocolate chiboust (lime puffed quinoa, olive oil, lime thyme)

Huckleberry and Sambuca seis leches cake, milk crumb, fennel pollen

Oh, that foie gras profiterole! Even the memory has me moaning. It was that good.

And the seis leches cake, why, it had to be twice as good as the standard tres leches cake, right? (Well, not exactly. But it was wonderful.) While I enjoyed the chiboust, however, I’m afraid the crunch of the quinoa married to all that creaminess didn’t quite work for me, but it was an interesting dish.

And with the check came … chocolate truffles.

A great meal, and my final lesson of the weekend that I’d be in big trouble if I lived in Portland. The food’s just too good there!

As for my next culinary memories, they’ll be formed tonight at Manresa, where I’ll dive into David Kinch’s amazing cuisine. I’ve been told by those who’ve been there that if I can have only one meal while in San Jose, I should make it Manresa. So I have faith that it will live up the buzz.

Only five hours until I find out!