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
509-876-8822
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.
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