Canard

734 E BURNSIDE ST. 971-279-2356

Photo credit: canardpdx

Canard is the third restaurant by Gabriel Rucker, the Portland chef WW has called the most talented of his generation. At his other two restaurants, Le Pigeon and Little Bird Bistro, Rucker’s innovative menus are equally inspired by Americana junk food and French fine dining. Canard’s is no less shocking. There’s foie gras-infused bourbon, foie gras dumplings and the Duck Stack—fluffy pancakes with Tabasco onions, duck gravy and a fried duck egg—with optional foie gras for $15. Most dishes take equally bold chances: steak tartare ($16) with Chinese sausage and cashews; uni “Texas toast”; dry-aged petite New York steak with French onion soup sauce. The prices at Canard are generally inexpensive, with nothing over $20. The lack of pretension is matched by the buzzy atmosphere, especially during late-night happy hour on weekends, when bumping bass from the upstairs Bossanova Ballroom can strum stacks of sauté pans like a washboard.

> Mattie John Bamman

4 pm-Midnight Daily