Portland's James Beard Award winners share their last meals

Gourdet, who opened Kann — his much-anticipated homage to Haitian cuisine in SE Portland — just last summer, picked a meal his mother used to make.

• "It would definitely be my mom's chicken. My mom's Haitian chicken, rice and beans," Gourdet told Axios.

Perhaps that inspired the spiced glazed chicken with smoked fruit, ginger and habanero on Kann's current menu.

• Pro tip: Been trying to get in? The next chance at a reservation is July 2 at noon. Openings are released the second of every month and accepted only through Resy. You can also make a request via Resy to be notified if a cancellation comes up.

Vince Nguyen, creator of the Berlu bakery — which pivoted to a much-praised and intimately presented tasting menu a year ago — said that as a kid he ate a lot of fast food and TV dinners, but picked for his last meal the one thing his mom would cook: Prego spinach lasagna that he admitted was "not good."

• "But it's very special to me because it was the one thing my mom would make me and I don't have many food memories from my family."

Shout-outs to this city: Gourdet said with 15 years here under his apron strings, it's "an honor to have Kann be in Portland and be a gift to the city, to employ and work with the team that we do and just create a beautiful experience."

• Nguyen put it simply: "Portland has been so supportive, I can't imagine having Berlu in any other city. And I don't know if Berlu would have succeeded in any other city."