Longtime McDougall’s hot spot is transformed into new wine saloon and restaurant

Fable Wine Saloon, Richland’s newest waterside restaurant, is set to open by the end of March in the former home to R.F. McDougall’s.

The team is shooting for a March 24 opening as it wraps up a major renovation at its new location.

Fable is a lively, upscale pub brand from John Bookwalter, the second generation Richland winemaker who also operates Fiction Restaurant.

The new restaurant is a major expansion for Fable, which began at the winery as a craft cocktail bar, and for Fiction too.

Bookwalter wants Fiction to evolve into a restaurant worthy of consideration for a prestigious James Beard award, reserved for the best of the best.

Fable Craft Bar + Wine Saloon + Food Joint will offer upscale pub food in a casual setting overlooking Bateman Island at 1706 Columbia Park Trail in the Richland Wye.

Bookwalter chose it, in part, because he had happy memories of spending time at McDougall’s as a young man. The restaurant closed in 2021 because of the pandemic and never reopened.

The Fable team

The Fable team is led by manager Will Willingham and by chef Abel Hammerstrom, who was promoted from sous chef at Fiction.

It will serve craft cocktails, Northwest craft beers on draft and a pub menu packed with traditional fare and a few entrees dreamed up by the chef.

Starters include duck fat tots, fried pickles and pretzel bits. Flatbreads include a blistered cherry tomato dish, BBQ pulled pork and a Seattle Dawg made with Andouille sausage and caramelized onions.

Spinach, Caesar and Mediterranean salads can be ordered with or without protein.

A Cubano sandwich, balsamic brie burger and gnocchi mac & cheese help round out the menu, which includes meat-free and gluten-free options.

Willingham said he’s particularly excited about Hammerstrom’s gnocchi mac & cheese, which is made with gruyere, cheddar and parmesan sauce, topped with garlic parmesan crumbles.

Willingham ran Bookwalter’s Non-Fiction food truck but brings a background that includes brick-and-mortar restaurants such as Cousin’s in Pasco and Drumheller’s restaurant at Columbia Point in Richland.

The food truck is temporarily sidelined while the team readies Fable for its grand opening.

Major renovation

Bookwalter leased the building and it has undergone a substantial renovation at the hands of Wave Design Group and Hummel Construction & Development.

The boxy green building is transformed into a more modern venue.

Inside, Fable echoes Fiction by using the same iconography and metalwork. But one vestige of R.F. McDougall’s remains. The vintage wood bar has been renovated and dominates the space.

Reportedly built in 1863, the bar was bought and sold several times before it would up there.

Willimgham said it was in rough shape, but was repaired. The bar was reportedly shot up in a bar dispute in its previous life at another location, but the bullet holes were patched and are no longer detectable, he said.

Fable has its roots at the Bookwalter Winery, where it began as a craft cocktail bar. It will fully relocate to the new location, leaving the newly expanded winery to focus on its core winemaking mission and on Fiction’s future as a top tier destination in Washington wine country.

Fable will seat about 100 inside and 60 in its sheltered outdoor dining area, which is perched over Columbia Park Trail near the Bateman Island causeway at the west entrance to Columbia Park.