Bookwalter returns to its Pasco roots with upscale soup and sandwich shop
A Richland winemaker and high-end restaurateur will open a sandwich and soup shop near Columbia Basin College and the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco.
Non-Fiction is the brainchild of John Bookwalter, owner of J. Bookwalter Wines and two Richland restaurants, and Jeffrey Ballard, his restaurant operations manager.
The new business builds on Bookwalter’s love of literary references and will offer signature sandwiches, coffee, beer, wine and market options.
The breakfast-and-lunch model is a dramatic departure from Bookwalter’s existing restaurants — the upscale Fiction Restaurant and the more casual Fable Craft Bar, both in Richland. It recently added a coffee bar at the former and breakfast service at the latter.
But Non-Fiction is a major move into the breakfast and lunch business for the team.
Non-Fiction is set to open at 2713 N. 20th Ave., Suite 122, in Conover Park, by Sept. 15, the first day of fall quarter at CBC, its across-the-street neighbor.
Non-Fiction will join its sisters under Bookwalter’s corporate umbrella, Chapter Two Hospitality.
Opportunity knocks
Bookwalter said it will emphasize local ingredients along with his own wine offerings, fresh-baked bread, premixed cocktails and premium meats.
The concept behind Non-Fiction began taking shape in 2024. One of Bookwalter’s investors owns Conover Center.
A coffee shop was supposed to move into an 1,800-square-foot corner facing CBC. It backed out after it completed some of the $150,000 in planned improvements.
Could Bookwalter do something with the spot?, the landlord wondered. It could.
Bookwalter and Ballard saw an opportunity to create a local sandwich shop serving hand-crafted sandwiches on fresh-baked bread, featuring local ingredients, soups, breakfast, coffee, premixed cocktails, higher-end beverages.
“I love the idea of local, indie offerings, “ Bookwalter said, citing Graze, the Walla Walla chain with locations in Kennewick and Richland.
The duo liked the location. St. Andrews Loop threads around the office park, making it easy for customers to drive in for a quick bite.
Busy traffic on 20th
Too, there are loads of potential customers in the neighborhood. About 20,000 vehicles use North 20th Avenue daily, according to a 2024 survey by the Benton Franklin Council of Governments. None of the existing Bookwalter businesses have that type of visibility.
CBC is close, as is Sun Willow Golf Course and community. CBC is expanding its student housing complex and office complexes dot the area. The airport entrance is a few blocks to the north.
Three hotels boast hundreds of rooms in the neighborhood — Red Lion Hotel, Courtyard by Marriott and Best Western. A fourth, Home2 Suites, is under construction.
To Bookwalter and Ballard, it added up to an audience for something other than chain restaurants and fast food.
“We think it’s a niche we can fill,” Bookwalter said.
Non-Fiction is reusing the coffee shop designs.
It will have a roll-up door and a terrace and a terrace will be shielded from the roar of 20th by arborvitae. There will be a full kitchen, though the project stops short of adding a commercial hood. That means there will be no fried food on hand.
Storied family
J. Bookwalter Wines and the two Bookwalter restaurants — Fable and Fiction — are synonymous with Richland. But Bookwalter Wines is rooted in Pasco.
The late Jerry Bookwalter opened Bookwalter Winery in 1983 in rented quarters on Commercial Avenue in Pasco’s King City. He moved it to its location off Columbia Park Trail and Queensgate Boulevard in south Richland about a decade later.
“It’s us returning to Pasco,” said John Bookwalter, who took over the family business in 1997.
Bookwalter added food early on.
In 2003, in a move to keep wine tourists around for more than the few minutes they typically spent in the tasting room, he added a wine lounge.
The lounge served wine, cheese and other bites. In time, it expanded into a bistro and eventually, the full-service restaurant he named Fiction.
He took food service one step further in 2002.
He created Fable Craft Bar at 1705 Columbia Park Trail, formerly R.F. McDougall’s Irish Pub and Eatery. He created Fable to offer a pub vibe, reserving Fiction’s focus on high end fare.
While Bookwalter fans wait for the new restaurant to debut in Pasco, Fable Craft Bar recently added daily breakfast service.
Go to Fable Craft Bar.
This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 12:00 AM.