Passatempo - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Passatempo


Walla Walla’s Passatempo Taverna revives a Main Street mainstay, the Pastime Café. For three generations the Fazzari family ran a classic Italian eatery here, with a menu of ravioli, spaghetti with meatballs, steaks, plus fried chicken on Sundays. After more than a decade shuttered, the space reopened in late 2016. It still feels retro—booth-lined, high-ceilinged, a bustling bar as its hub, lit by an original illuminated clock that reads “Cocktails, Spaghetti & Meatballs.” Jim German, whose Jimgermanbar revived nearby town Waitsburg, has come on to oversee the place, while chef Aaron Mooney runs the kitchen, turning out a number of updated Italian classics, including Bologneses and Amatricianas, all served over handmade pastas. Emily Riley oversees a wine menu evenly weighted between local Walla Walla favorites and a selection of Italian wines that’s by far the best in town.

215 W. Main St., Walla Walla, Washington

Italian

Patrick J. Comiskey covers US wines for Wine & Spirits magazine, focusing on the Pacific Northwest, California’s Central Coast and New York’s Finger Lakes.


This story appears in the print issue of October 2017.
Like what you read? Subscribe today.