Marmo, Reviewed

The best thing I've eaten at the West End's Marmo is also by far the simplest. The humble Italian sub ($11) is light, classic and almost perfect—a balance of fatty mortadella, spicy coppa and salty finocchiona meats, with pepperoncinis and red onions and romaine lettuce providing crisp bitterness. It's the sort of thing you'd get at a sub shop in Southside Chicago, elevated to cosmopolitan luxury. 

Marmo is also one of the few places in Portland you'd ever get that American-Italian hoagie served up with a grappa flight ($14), Negroni ($11) or a housemade limoncello ($10). Kevin Chambers' new deli and bar is a white-marbled space as bright, airy and clean-lined as any Milan runway or Greek tomb—a vision of upscale urbanity much more endemic to the San Franciscos and Manhattans of the world, with espresso and pastries in the morning giving way to Bakeshop's fine focaccia and perhaps a tart lambrusco ($10) in the afternoon.

Chambers has said Marmo was inspired, in part, by birthday cannoli from his Italian grandmother—although the menu was developed in consultation with former Bluehour chef Thomas Boyce, who presided over that restaurant's most recent heyday. The food on offer is simple: cold basil-flecked farfalle with a wealth of pine nuts and only the slightest hint of Calabrian chili ($8), or a lovely array of gelato for dessert ($2.50 a scoop), which we chose over that birthday cannoli on a hot day.

Still, at the prices on offer, this will be a regular hangout for only the few, and an $11 Italian hot beef had nothing on the cheap-and-dirty Chicago classic; Marmo's was a sopping mess in a bun that couldn't contain it, and its giardiniere consisted of a mealy wreath of pink cauliflower. In the evening, the place will probably struggle to compete with the ambitious drink program and sumptuous $8 bruschettas of Shift Drinks, a similarly minimalist-luxe bar that just opened around the corner. But for members of the leisure class, it seems a fine place to celebrate the discreet charms of 2 in the afternoon. 

Order this: Italian sub ($11) and limoncello ($10).

I'll pass: Italian hot beef ($11). 

EAT: Marmo, 1037 SW Morrison St., 224-0654, marmopdx.com. 7 am-3 pm Monday, 7 am-8 pm Tuesday-Thursday, 7 am-9 pm Friday, 8 am-9 pm Saturday, 8 am-3 pm Sunday. 

WWeek 2015