The Long Lunch Still Exists: Go to Portland's EVOE

Here's what lunch looks like most days for me: I'm hunched over a chopped salad, wrap, or something equally uninspired at my desk at Bon Appétit's 4 Times Square offices, headphones on, scrolling through Gawker's homepage. Shameful.

There was a time, I'm told, when lunch was for luxuriating. The Three Martini Lunch of the Mad Men era, when the Don Drapers of the world essentially ended their days at 12:30 p.m., comes to mind. So do France and Italy, where carafes of wine are (still!) consumed alongside full-on multiple-course midday meals. Last weekend, I learned that this tradition is still alive in the U.S., or at least in one tiny pocket of one city.

EVOE in Portland, OR, is nothing fancy, what with its dark blue walls and backless stools. In fact Pastaworks, the Italian specialty grocery store EVOE is housed inside, is much more impressive. But I didn't go there last weekend in between events at BA's Feast Portland food festival for ambiance; I went to eat whatever the heck chef-owner Kevin Gibson wanted to serve that day.

The first sign this place is special: Gibson doesn't look like your typical Portland chef. No beard, tattoos, or custom embroidered chefs whites; just a wiry frame, old denim shirt, and what can best be described as "dad glasses." The restaurant is a retirement project of sorts for Gibson, who spent the better part of two decades running kitchens around Portland, but it's a "retirement project" akin to Jay-Z's step away from the music world in 2006: he's more influential now than ever. The second sign EVOE is special: The menu of Italian small plates is written on the wall in chalk and you're told that the food will come out randomly, whenever it's ready.

Then, be prepared to wait. If you want to get in and out, then EVOE is not the place for you. But if you've got some time set aside and want to be surprised by plate after plate of deliciously simple food? Stick around. Gibson will send out a cavalcade of vegetable-centric dishes like roasted eggplant rollatini bathed in tomato sauce, raw artichokes and fennel topped with crisp strips of fatty guanciale, and thin slices of zuccini topped with crumbled feta cheese and hazelnuts. He'll likely cap it off with anything a bowl of just-ripe figs and tart husk cherries.

Keeping with the trend of doing things the way Gibson wants, EVOE is only open Wednesday through Sunday. And, fittingly, it's only open for lunch.