Graze serves up some bountiful, well-aged meat sandwiches in Walla Walla, Washington

I look up at the menu in *Graze, a cheery little sandwich shop in downtown Walla Walla, Washington. “What’s the Latronka, and what does the word “bomb” mean in the description?” I ask the server. “It means a lot of pastrami.” Eight ounces, in fact.

Thinking I’ll go for something lighter, I order the warm flank steak torta. Flank steak can be chewy, to be charitable, but here it is surprisingly tender, no doubt because it is seared, then finished in the oven.

There is a lot of flank steak in my torta, along with generous slices of avocado, provolone and tomato, all tucked inside a nicely toasted, local bun that doesn’t deteriorate after significant gnashing of teeth. Yes, it’s $10, but it’s one of the better and certainly one of the biggest steak sandwiches I’ve enjoyed.

A loaded, tender flank-steak torta

Here’s part of an interview with Walla Walla Lifestyles that sums up co-owner and chef John Lastoskie’s approach to his restaurant and catering business:

“What is your favorite ingredient?”
“Time… When we do turkey, we brine it for 24 hours. When we do prime rib, we salt and tie it for three days. Everything we do has days in front of it, whereas a lot of people just pull something out of the fridge and throw it on the grill. Our pastrami takes, on average, about 22 days.”

Graze
5 South Colville and 213 South 9 Avenue (drive-thru) Walla Walla, Washington
Daily 10 am-7:30 pm, except 3:30 pm closing Sunday