On the corner of La Crosse St and Lang Dr, not even a five-minute walk from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus, sits La Crosse’s newest Italian restaurant – Pastissimo. The building formerly occupied by Cool Beans Coffee Shop was a highly regarded cafe by UWL students. Manuel Marono and Rosalinda Saldana, owners of Pastissimo, hope to establish a similar connection with UWL and the surrounding community.  

“We were looking for some place near to the college,” said Marono. “This is food for young people, for the college age, for energy, for healthy [people].” Pastissimo, pronounced pah-stee-SEE-moh, will offer in-house freshly made pasta, which you can customize with six different sauces. “We will be making everything from scratch right here in the kitchen,” said Saldana.