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Genoa's "cozze," marinated mussels, blackened potato, chorizo and a squid ink foam, one of the painterly dishes from new chef Jake Martin's May menu.
(Motoya Nakamura, The Oregonian)
As if on cue, desserts emerge from Genoa's kitchen, each plate holding a lit candle bound for one of a half-dozen occupied tables that night. In the corner, a couple celebrate an anniversary. By the fireplace, a man in a blue suit marks an advanced birthday with family. At a round table in the room's center, a young lawyer introduces his parents to his girlfriend for the first time.
Genoa
Grade:
B
Cuisine and scene:
Seasonally inspired, Italian-accented five-course meals served in a sedate Southeast Portland space.
Recommended:
Soft-boiled duck egg with pimenton croutons, yogurt gnudi with artichokes and olives, early strawberries with tarragon fromage blanc, skin-seared salmon with peas, carrots and Vadouvan curry.
Vegetarian friendly?
Gone is the stand-alone vegetarian option, eliminated this month in favor of a menu with more choices at each course, though it's still possible to navigate a complete vegetarian meal.
Sound level:
The quietest restaurant in Oregon.
Beverages:
A well-researched list of mostly Italian wines, including Oregon's most comprehensive selection of trendy, skin-macerated "orange" wines; beer and cocktails from Accanto; coffee, tea.
Price range:
Five courses for $65 (with $40 wine pairing).
Extras:
Reservations, major credit cards, street parking, handicapped access.
Serving:
Dinner, Wednesday-Sunday.
Details:
2832 S.E. Belmont St., 503-238-1464,
This Genoa isn't quite the same as the Italian institution that
. In 2008, that restaurant was pulled off life support, the victim of a sluggish economy and the city's changing tastes.
Yet in 2009, before the room had gone cold, a new investor appeared,
.
Earlier this year, Genoa underwent another significant change,
. Under Martin, Genoa's kitchen shows off some serious skill -- particularly in its painterly eye for color and presentation. And as the nightly candles demonstrate, for many Oregonians, Genoa remains Portland's top special-occasion destination. Yet five years after the restaurant first shut its doors, many of the issues that led to that closure remain.
Colorful plates
Martin dreams in Technicolor. The May menu, with most dishes presented in a tumble of colors following thick horizontal lines or graceful curves, offers some of the most vividly imagined plates in Portland.
Take Martin's simple riff on strawberries and cream. Here, first-of-the-season strawberries, some bright red, others pale green and pickled, alternate with velvety tarragon-infused fromage blanc, all scattered with orange and purple nasturtium petals.
Among the antipasti, a sous vide duck egg was a setting sun of orange yolk pudding amid a landscape of pimenton-dyed croutons and asparagus shaved white up to their spear tips. Thin, rare-pink slices of "corned" lamb were woven around dry chickpeas, hummus and dots of bright-green nasturtium leaf pesto.
Yogurt gnudi, a simple, rustic dish -- and my favorite over two visits -- arrived pillow-soft, the faintly tangy pasta nestled among artichoke, dark Ligurian olives and deep-green basil oil. Next, a fork-tender braised lamb shank sat in a bed of deep-red tomato jam dotted with confit garlic cloves.
Martin also has a way with fish. A square of salmon, seared skin-side down, was as moist and buttery as a steak, the juicy flesh set off by a garden of tender carrots, peas and a splash of ephemeral Vadouvan curry. It practically screamed "spring."
Led by sommelier Michael Garofola, the front-of-house staff is polished, professional and Portland-formal, though on some nights, the well-intentioned recitations of each small producer in the $40 wine flight can leave your food and your date cold. (For the same price, the '11 Agniolino Maule Masieri, a viscous, personality-filled white, paired nicely with each course.)
Old magic missing
Yet for all that's fresh on the plate and in the glass, Genoa's quiet dining room feels like a mausoleum for memories of the Genoa of old. With its long curtains blocking out Southeast Belmont Street, the space aims for intimate but comes off as stifling. What was once languid now feels overlong.
And Martin's cooking, as strong as it is, doesn't have enough "wow" moments to carry the meal's more than two-hour length or $65 fixed price.
There was a time when Genoa drove Portland's culinary conversation. Back when it was unavailable elsewhere in Portland, founding chef Michael Vidor's wife grew basil for the restaurant. Now, once-exotic ingredients from Genoa's May menu such as Castelvetrano olives can be found next to Tillamook cheddar at many Portland grocers.
And today Genoa isn't just competing against its earlier incarnation. There are a half-dozen buzzed-about places nearby, including
, the latest Italian hot spot;
, where former Genoa chef Cathy Whims serves wood-fired dishes in a lofty space; and even
next door, where trout mousse-stuffed olive oil beignets and orecchiette with fennel sausage present more obvious pleasures.
These restaurants serve simpler food, no doubt, with dishes you could almost make at home. But they're also half the price, and give you twice as much to talk about the next day.
They also offer the ingredient that today's Genoa seems to lack: fun.
-- Michael Russell
