Portland-based chef Gregory Smith has been honing his skills in Pacific Northwest cuisine since his early days running Coldspring Farm, a vegetable farm in the Columbia Gorge. This passion for local produce propelled his trajectory to head the kitchen at Noble Rot, a restaurant firmly established as one of the top-ten in the Portland area.
As the Chef de Cuisine, Chef Greg utilized his culinary degree from the Art Institute of Atlanta to celebrate Oregon’s unique bounty. Local seafood quickly became a special feature of Noble Rot’s hyper-local menu, and the relationships he developed over the years with the fisherman informed many recipes that have become beloved at the restaurant and beyond, such as grilled octopus, crispy-skin black cod, and cedar plank king salmon. Chef Greg’s seafood creations have been featured in local cookbooks, Oregon’s legendary summer farm dinners, and private wine dinners.
The unique combination of skill, respect for the seafood, and earned access to the special bounty of the Oregon coast has made Chef Greg a sought-after master of his craft. Greg’s culinary journey reached a broader audience when he appeared on the popular show “Chopped” which aired on September 10, 2019. Showcasing is culinary artistry and innovative thinking. He also has traveled internationally to represent the bounty of ingredients from the Pacific Northwest with WUSATA, the Western United States of America trade Association.