Santilli's opens its doors in Richland

Pasta Mama is back in business.

Diane Santillie and her husband, Paul, quietly opened their Italian restaurant, Santilli's, last week in Richland.

The restaurant in the Columbia Center North mall uses just part of the large building that used to house a former movie theater and then a dance club.

The Santillies also have a pasta and sauce production area, a gift shop featuring wine and pasta-related items and, later, will move their garment printing business, Sanchic, there too.

They still are waiting for the go ahead from the state Department of Agriculture to begin producing their signature Pasta Mama's pastas.

For now the chefs at Santilli's are busy fine-tuning a diverse menu which includes pasta dishes, salads and steaks.

They'll add even more pasta -- ravioli, cannoli and lasagna -- when the big pasta machine begins producing. Between lunch and dinner only appetizers will be served unless you want take out from the deli, which will feature a variety of pasta-based salads and meals.

"Opening the deli depends on getting the OK from the Department of Ag so that's a few weeks out too," Paul said.

"We have 20,000 pounds of flour in our production area and -- when the Department of Ag gives us the OK -- we'll be making a 1,000 pounds of pasta a day," he said.

And these won't be Plain Jane pastas. The Santillie's still have their recipes for the flavored pastas Diane Santillie developed years ago -- black pepper, garlic-basil, tomato and her unique desert pastas too, chocolate and apple spice.

The Santillies sold their highly successful Pasta Mama's business to a Spokane specialty foods business in 1997. That company went out of business but the rights to the name didn't become available until earlier this year.

When the Santillies regained the rights, they immediately began working on a comeback.

Their marketing representatives -- many who promoted Pasta Mama's products years ago -- are poised to write orders for pastas and sauces for stores in 40 states.

The Santillies are busy adding stock to the gift shop which will open in a few weeks. But for now you can check out the paintings and photos by various artists including John Clements, Gary White and Consuelo Soto.

The restaurant is at 2588 N. Columbia Center Blvd. Dinners tend to run from about $15-$20. Restaurant hours are from11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and from 5:30 to 10 p.m.

The phone is 735-4005.

w Loretto J. Hulse: 582-1513; lhulse@tricityherald.com

This story was originally published August 10, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Santilli's opens its doors in Richland ."