John Gorham Restaurateur, Chef John Gorham Is Co-Owner and Executive Chef of Iconic Portland Restaurants Toro Bravo
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John Gorham Restaurateur, Chef John Gorham is co-owner and Executive Chef of iconic Portland restaurants Toro Bravo, Tasty n Daughters, Tasty n Alder, PLAZA DEL TORO; co-owner of Mediterranean Exploration Company, Bless Your Heart Burgers, and Shalom Y'all; and founder of the La Ruta PDX gastronomic festival. Gorham believes that a chef’s cuisine and style is influenced by a trade route composed of travels, past work, cities lived in, and foods that their family made growing up. A ‘chef of the people’, Gorham celebrates a range of global cuisines at his influential restaurants; each with a unique identity but all embodying the quintessential Portland dining experience of family-style dishes, house-made charcuterie and seasonal sustainably-sourced ingredients. Gorham relocated frequently throughout his childhood, and during that time gained an appreciation for the art of hospitality growing up in the South. His grandfather helped him develop a love of food and the joy that comes with good dining. Cooking at home at a very young age, Gorham enrolled at the American Culinary Federation in Williamsburg, Virginia at age seventeen. In 1993, he moved to Eugene, Oregon to work at Café Zenon where for six years he focused on his charcuterie skills and the direct relationships between farmers and chefs. In 1999, Gorham moved to the Bay Area and worked with some of the most influential culinary figures of the time, including Chris Rossi, Judy Rogers, and Jean Pierre of Chez Panisse. He later co-opened Café Centro, which was listed as a Top 100 Restaurant by San Francisco Magazine and received three stars from the San Francisco Chronicle. Gorham moved back to Oregon and in 2003 and purchased Portland’s Viande Meats & Sausage, earning him “Artisan of the Year” in 2006 from the Willamette Week. Gorham co-founded the underground Simpatica Supper Club in 2006, experimenting with a diverse range of regional cuisines. One USA Today writer attended a Spanish tapas driven dinner and later named it the number one meal in the world of 2006. After traveling to Spain in 2007 to gather ideas, recipes and vision, Gorham launched Toro Bravo, which opened to immediate popularity and lines out the door. In its first year, Portland Monthly declared Gorham “Chef of the Year” and Willamette Week named Toro Bravo “Restaurant of the Year.” Tasty n Sons launched in 2010 offering up a globally inspired family-style menu that has become Portland’s go-to brunch spot for putting a fine dining twist on breakfast. Tasty n Sons received Willamette Week’s “Restaurant of the Year.” In 2013, Gorham opened Tasty n Alder in the heart of Downtown Portland with brunch small plates by day and steakhouse fare by night. Gorham’s first cookbook, The Toro Bravo Cookbook: Stories. Recipes. No Bull., was published by McSweeney’s in 2013 and earned praise and accolades from national media and chefs alike. In summer 2014, Gorham opened his fourth restaurant, Mediterranean Exploration Company, in Portland’s Pearl District serving small plates focusing on the eastern Mediterranean. Inspired by Gorham’s recent travels to Israel, where he and Chef Kasey Mills ate their way through dozens of restaurants in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Rosh Pinna and Northern Israel. PLAZA DEL TORO, a gastronomic society, opened in April of 2015 as both a private event space and a test kitchen/culinary laboratory. Modeled after the gastronomic societies of San Sebastian Spain, PLAZA DEL TORO has given Gorham an opportunity to return to the stoves and continue to experiment in the kitchen developing recipes for his existing restaurants. Gorham envisioned a space where he and his staff could have unconstrained culinary creativity and push the boundaries of their craft. To further his goal of bridging the cultures of Portland and Spain, Gorham presents La Ruta del Toro (Route of the Bull), a series of culinary experiences at PLAZA DEL TORO sharing food and exploring Spain. Events include seated dinners inspired by regions of Spain, traveling guest chefs and winemakers, Spanish entertainment, live music, and DJ’d dance fiestas. In 2016 and 2017 respectively, Gorham opened Shalom Y’all and BYH Burgers. Shalom Y’all is the sister restaurant of Mediterranean Exploration Company serving Israeli Street food. BYH Burgers in the Pine Street Market features classic Americana cheeseburgers and fries with flavors to take you back to your childhood. Gorham has defined an innovative and uniquely formulated business plan that has energized Portland’s restaurants panorama through his mentorships to partnerships with his executive chefs, first seen with Chef Kasey Mills of Mediterranean Exploration Company/Shalom Y’all and now with Bar Manager Jamal Hassan and chef Drew Sprouse at BYH Burgers. This success is achieved through an ongoing commitment to educate and nurture all staff, from entry level to owner, and has encouraged a slow expansion of the business with a variety of restaurants independently conceived and planned with the of best care. In July 2017, Gorham launched La Ruta PDX: a gastronomic festival in Portland. The Spanish industry and trade focused food festival celebrates the culinary culture of Spain in Portland, Oregon with chefs and winemakers from Spain joining forces with chefs from Portland in a series of culinary and cultural events. Gorham’s second Cookbook, Hello! My Name Is Tasty: Global Diner Favorites from Portland's Tasty Restaurants, features recipes from both Tasty n Sons and Tasty n Alder. The highly anticipated book was published in August of 2017 by Sasquatch. In December 2017, Gorham was diagnosed with brain cancer. In early February 2018 he underwent brain surgery at OHSU in Portland. Less than a week after his surgery, Gorham opened the full-sized Shalom Y’all Restaurant, his third Israeli restaurant and first in SE Portland. A few days after Valentine’s Day he was informed that the surgery was a complete success and no more treatment was necessary. In 2019 Gorham moved Tasty n Sons to southeast Portland as Tasty n Daughters. A genuine family man, Gorham spends his free time with his two daughters, Ruby and Royal, Captain, their goldendoodle, and the love of his life, his wife and business partner Renee. .