Southern comfort food with a twist is on the menu at a new restaurant in the Plaza District.
The Press is the brainchild of Anchor Down and Mule owners Hungry Town Concepts, which purchased Northside Printing’s former home earlier this year. The 1948 building is – well, was – one of the last unused spaces in the Plaza District.
The renovation is keeping many of the building’s original features, such as its exposed brick and bowstring truss ceilings, and a 3,000-square-foot patio is also planned with seating and a bar.
“Since opening The Mule five years ago, the Plaza District has become our home,” says co-owner Joey Morris. “We love the neighborhood and are excited to open a place with delicious food and a relaxed, cozy vibe.”
Hungry Town Concepts opened its grilled cheese restaurant The Mule in The Plaza District five years ago, serving up favorites people continuously line up for such as The Macaroni Pony. When it opened its doors, Saints Pub was one of the few other restaurants on the block – today there are 12 eateries in the entertainment hotspot near the Gatewood neighborhood.
Three years later, the team opened Anchor Down in downtown’s shipping container development OKSea – the playful eatery has taken the humble corndog to an entirely new level, just as The Mule has done with grilled cheese.
The owners have teamed up with Chef Beth Ann Lyon, who helped develop the menus at the group’s first two restaurants, to devise a menu for The Press inspired by southern and southwestern comfort food. Lyon has also created menus for Kitchen No. 324 and Provision Kitchen.
“The food I’ve grown up eating in Oklahoma is a collision of southern, western and frontier comfort food,” says co-owner Cody Rowan. “From chicken fried steak to chips and queso, the menu will be a celebration of this collision – call it prairie comfort food.”
Drawing on her experience with Provision Kitchen as well as the plant-based meals she prepares for those taking part in yoga retreats with Routed Connection, Lyon has also created a number of vegan and vegetarian meals for the menu at The Press.
Hungry Town Concepts, which also includes Roger Eleftherakis and John Harris, is set to open The Press in October at 1610 N Gatewood, serving brunch, lunch and dinner seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
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