Restaurateur Logan Ely just pulled another savory idea out of his seemingly bottomless bag of tricks. The chef/owner of two restaurants in Fox Park—The Lucky Accomplice and Press—announced this week that the latter has expanded its offerings. In the process, Ely added a tagline to its name: Say hello to Press Pizza & Pasta (2509 S. Jefferson).
The Concept
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During summer 2022, Logan Ely took pizza for an interesting new spin by introducing a double-crusted, 10-inch version stuffed with fresh, local ingredients, pressed in a panini press and garnished with additional toppings. After initially describing his creation as “Crunchwrap Supreme meets quesadilla meets calzone meets pizza,” Ely settled simply on “stuffed pizza” and let customers discover the details of the newfangled riff.
Located next door to The Lucky Accomplice, the 32-seat restaurant also offered equally innovative, salads, sides, draft cocktails, and a few flatbread-style pizzas, including one topped with smoked salmon and another with lobster. With the menu items priced in the teens, the concept quickly caught on.
Recent Changes
“We’d talked about eventually doing something with fresh pasta at Press,” Ely says. In November, the test evolved into a six-item pasta menu served every Sunday night. “The original idea was to introduce pasta menu-wide after our winter break [January 1–10],” he says, “but the program had been so successful, we thought we’d roll it out now, before the break.”
Ely announced the full-on pizza and pasta menu—and the name change—on social media this week. “Six or so creative pizzas and pastas,” Ely explains, “that will change according to what’s currently on the farm, plus our sides and batched cocktails.” All items are available for dine in, pickup, or delivery. Ely says he wants Press to be known as “that neighborhood restaurant that sells a great product, one that’s approachable, affordable, and available. Nothing’s over $20. That’s where we want to be.”
Several other components of the pasta night menu will continue to be available but only on Sunday nights: New and Old World bottles of wine for $19.99, draft cocktails for $8, and cans of City Wide for $4. “We built that program, and people liked it,” Ely says. “We saw no reason to take it all away.”
