So, What Are You Having For Lunch, Scott and Bud Marsh?—Marsh Brothers Deli

There are delis and then there is the Marsh Brothers Deli at the Little Store in downtown Lebanon, New Hampshire. Brothers Stephen (Bud) and Scott Marsh (above) are making the deli’s meats—turkey, pastrami, corned beef and others— in-house, and serving them to a hungry cross-section of the Upper Valley.

Customers are numerous and loyal, and according to Bud, range “from tradesmen to Dartmouth students and everyone in between.” While there are some vegetarian options available, it is fair to say that most of the deli’s guests are enthusiastic carnivores. Entries on social media and restaurant rating sites like Yelp and Trip Advisor are filled with superlatives from patrons, local or passing-through, who pride themselves on their deli savvy.

Marsh Brothers offers both signature and build-your-own sandwiches, but aficionados make it a point to check the deli’s Facebook page for daily specials. On Monday of this week, for example, specials included Cowboy Bacon Chili (cup or bowl), smoked wings, a “rancher wrap“ with fried chicken tenders, and a Spicy Turkey Reuben (turkey, sauerkraut, jalapeños, Swiss, sriracha, thousand island on toasted rye.) The Facebook page is worth perusing for its photos of homemade soups, apple fritters, and heavenly donuts (photo, below.) Salads are in the fridge, and customers pore over the beer selections.

Everything’s to go. There is no seating to speak of, unless you count an outdoor picnic table or two in more clement weather. Your sandwiches and other goodies are going with you back to your truck, office, building site, or home. Or, except in the dead of winter, maybe to a bench in nearby Colburn Park.

Who are the Marsh Brothers, and how did they find their way to their present endeavor and location? They describe themselves as:

. . . both local guys who grew up in Windsor, Vermont and still live locally with our families, Scott in Quechee and Bud in Plainfield. We have both cut our teeth working in our Mom’s ( Jean Marsh) restaurant in Vermont as kids. We continued working in various restaurants. . . [Jesse’s, catering, management of the Weathervane Seafood Restaurant for 20 years]. Scott has worked essentially in the food industry and Bud worked in the biotech world for 16 years before coming back to work with Scott at the deli. It has always been a dream to one day own our own business and when Scott saw the road sign advertising it for sale we knew it would be fulfilled. 

So, what are the brothers’ lunch choices from their own menu? Bud Marsh speaks for himself and his brother:

“My favorite sandwich is our Marsh Brothers Hot Roast Beef Sammie—rare roast beef  grilled with caramelized onions and Vermont cheddar on an toasted onion roll with lettuce, horseradish mayo, and bbq sauce.

Scotty likes the pork belly burnt ends (done on the cherry wood smoker) with house Carolina sauce and side of hand cut fries.”

And . . . “Probably the homemade brownies and blondies too.”  

Marsh Brothers Deli at the Little Store, located at 55 School Street in Lebanon, New Hampshire, is open for breakfast and lunch from 7 AM to 3 PM, Monday through Friday. For more information, click here for its Facebook page. Photo, top by Susan B. Apel

This is another post in a collaborative project between Artful and Daybreak in which Rob Gurwitt and I take turns interviewing Upper Valley restaurant owners, chefs, and others about what they’d order from their own menus.

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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.