

Fine wine is only element of what will make a well-known wine area, and Walla Walla’s foodstuff scene is legit—seriously strong instead than “good for a little city.” Make reservations where by they are recognized if Walla Walla was at any time a concealed gem, those people days have extended passed.
Hattaway’s on Alder
The passing of the great Whoopemup Hollow Cafe in 2019 opened a window for a new brand of Southern Publicity to action into the highlight. Released by an Alabama pair on a silent downtown block (but in the vicinity of the town’s reigning fine-dining champ Passatempo Taverna), the tiny area dishes significant flavors. Like really crisp fried chicken bathed in “backyard sauce”—flavored with the kind of herbs you may well obtain in a own yard. Muddled clean peaches in a bourbon cocktail are a sweet Southern reprieve from all the wine, but the glassed-off wine cellar has its share of massive neighborhood names. Don’t skip the housemade chocolate-studded bread pudding, whose aroma by itself is more than enough to justify its addition to an by now-hearty food.
Walla Walla Steak Co.
Dan Thiessen oversaw the kitchens at the Area Needle and Salty’s before he was drawn back to the Jap Washington farmland of his childhood. It was a lot more than a scenic return—the cattle ranch he grew up on aided inspire the Walla Walla Steak Co., a undertaking he co-launched in the town’s old teach depots. He’s even rearing his personal cattle, however they are not yet section of the meat co-op that supplies the New Yorks, filets, and leading sirloins that stop up on the restaurant’s charcoal grill. The wine town is ripe for a steak-to start with joint, just one major sufficient to supply a 34-ounce bone-in rib eye, and the Crossbuck Brewing taproom that shares the setting up is burgers-and-IPA counterprogramming to all the cabs and primary cuts.
Passatempo Taverna
Other wine locations might activity Michelin-starred eating places, but Walla Walla places on a international banquet at compact-city costs. Il Nido’s Mike Easton aided open up Passatempo in downtown Walla Walla (though he is no for a longer time a part of it), and the handmade pastas—all under $25—are as notable as the simple fact that you can get in with no a reservation on a weeknight. When it released in 2016, Easton called the fare “a little bit more interesting” the connection of the rustic Italian food stuff with the community wines was generally at the forefront.
Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen area
Wine place can signify a slate of identical-old American classics, probably a sprinkle of French and Italian. Saffron is not fearful to serve gözleme, a Turkish flatbread, fifty percent a world from the Bosphorus. A slate of salads and housemade pastas, common Italian and steaks, would make place for admirers of every single aspect of the Mediterranean coast. Open considering the fact that 2007, it can be turn into a kind of elder statesman in the Walla Walla eating scene, its reliable track record nicely gained.
Bacon and Eggs
It can be correct there in the identify: Welcome to breakfast central in downtown Walla Walla. But for all the Ron Swanson simplicity, the menu spends a lot more time in Mexico: migas, huevos con chorizo, chilaquiles. Among a tofu stir-fry topped with kimchi and stuffed brioche french toast, the simple outdated bacon and eggs entree is nearly missing. Lunch involves a modest unfold of sandwiches and salads, and a wall of scorching sauces—look for the shelves underneath a luchador portrait—are not just Instagram bait.


AK’s Mercado
A single of the finest foods in Walla Walla employed to arrive out of a gasoline station. The food counter at Andrae’s Kitchen area dished road food stuff that deserved a finer desk than the types in close proximity to the Cenex gasoline pumps, but the ramshackle place was part of the attraction. Andrae Bopp moved to a much more common place downtown in early 2021, dishing tacos and smoked meats and internet hosting a industry of local suppliers. Jim German, the cocktail thoughts behind now-shuttered but much-beloved Jimgermanbar, prospects the beverages system.