Aversano's: A Mosaic of History

is located in a little strip mall at the east end of Sumner. The mall doesn't have an anchor store or any other huge hot spots to attract you, yet night after night, this restaurant is filled with people from all over our area, who come to enjoy more than just great food. The atmosphere is something that draws you in and leaves you wanting more.

As my family dined on a Thursday evening in January, I looked around at the restaurant. Almost every table was full. "Why?" I wondered. "With our economy in a slump, how does this place continue to fill up?" Our waitress, Val, joined us since we had requested her section just as we do each time we arrive. It's not that the others on the waitstaff are not good, but Val was our waitress the night my husband and I met there for our first date in 1991.

At first glance, there is nothing too special about the old booth -- glass over plastic tablecloths, garlic hanging from the ceiling -- until you really look around.

Is that salad bar an old wagon train car? Yes it is! Is that honestly solid, hand-carved wood behind the bar? Yes it is. It is only then that your eyes take in the true magic that is the beauty of Aversano's Italian Restaurant. It is, in a word, comfortable, but it is still more than that. The wood booths are really wood, solid and handmade with attention paid to the pattern of the grain as it was constructed. The decorations are real antiques that hold interest, not like the stuff you found in the corner of great-grandma's garage after the estate sale, but real pieces of our history, including a phone operator station and wooden phone booth.

A quick trip to the bathroom revealed an explanation of the bar. In short, it read:

This hand-carved bar was built in 1897 in Alabama, shipped around South America’s Cape Horn and installed in the Mecca Saloon on First Avenue in Seattle in 1915. It was later shipped to Cle Elum where it was used as a saloon bar until Prohibition and was installed in Cle Elem’s Autorest Café in 1918 through 1976. It was then moved to Sumner in 1977.

 Wow, now that's history!

Old trolley cars labeled "Yesler Way - Lake Washington" and other names, line the other side of the room, as do the old diner booths with call switches and hat hooks. In one of the photos next to our booth, 20 men from the '30s pose after a successful fishing trip on the river in Orting. Funny thing, they are wearing suit vests and top hats. (I don't know about you, but I thought fishing attire was flannel and ripped jeans.) You know they had that look then, or so they portrayed on "Little House on the Prairie. It made for good family conversation about why we don't dress up when we leave the house anymore.

Our food comes and I just have to ask, "Val, is it always this busy on a weeknight in January?"

"It just depends," replies Hopfauf. "Monday and Tuesday were slow, but it has picked up since. Last weekend we were slammed."

When asked what has kept her working here for so long, she smiles. "It's low-key, not a franchise; you can spend time with your customers. I have my regulars that always request me. That feels good. It is fun here. I would not work here if it wasn't fun."

I remember when we met Val, she worked for a school district as an educator and just did this job a few nights a month for fun. After having her last baby, she chose to leave her education job, instead of her Aversano's job. I think that says a lot about the character of the staff. "There is not a big turnover in our staff. We are all really good friends. Also, our boss treats us with respect. That is really important to me,” she added.

As usual, our food was fantastic and we ate until we could hardly move. We paid our bill and made a quick trip to the next door for fish for our son's new fish tank. After endless walking around, trying to pick out the perfect new pets, we returned to Aversano's to share our finds with Val. She fell in love, as I did, with the little frogs that live in the water with the fish, so I left and returned with a bag of water and a frog for Val. I could be wrong, but I bet that's the first time she has ever been tipped with a frog.

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