Gregory Gourdet
Gregory Gourdet (born ) is an American chef, writer, restaurateur, and former finalist on the twelfth and seventeenth seasons of Bravo's American reality television series, Top Chef. He is of Haitian descent. He is the owner of the restaurant Kann and the former executive chef and culinary director of Departure at The Nines in Portland, Oregon. His book, Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health, is a national bestseller. Early life and education Gourdet was born on , in New York City to Haitian immigrant parents. He was raised in Queens, and graduated high school from St. Andrew's (Delaware). He attended NYU for one year, where he studied pre-med. He then attended University of Montana (UM), where he studied wildlife biology before graduating with a degree in French. During his time at UM, Gourdet discovered his passion for cooking, and went on to enroll in The Culinary Institute of America. From there, he earned an internship with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and was mentored by him for almost seven years. Career After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America in 2000, Gourdet went to work full-time for chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, honing his craft at three of Vongerichten's restaurants before climbing the