Western Culinary Institute is Dead; Long Live Cordon Bleu

This Thursday, what was once downtown's Western Culinary Institute will officially--as in ribbons will be cut and people will be super-jazzed--become Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. As Grant Butler writes in the Oregonian,

It's not the first name change in the school's history. Before becoming Western Culinary Institute in 1986, it was called the Horst Mager Culinary Institute, after the longtime Portland chef and restaurateur who co-founded the school in 1983. The change to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts emphasizes the school's decade-plus association with the French culinary institute.

Celebrating this particular version of "what's in a name" will be three chefs--Myra Lee, Broc Willis, and Kurt Rummel--who will all do a something to a chicken. (You can watch, if you want.) Piling on the reckless thrills, word is that Portland Trail Blazer Nicolas Batum will be on one of the teams. So. Chicken + Cordon + 'Colas = ZOMG. Extra credit? The date, January 14th, happens to be the one hundred and fourteenth anniversary of the first electric stove demonstration, held at the Cordon Bleu in Paris. Somebody call Julia!
· Portland Cooking School Changes Name to Cordon Bleu [Oregonian]
· Le Cordon Bleu Challenge [EventBrite]

600 SW 10th Ave, Portland, OR 97205