Rally Pizza Founders Shan Wickham and Alan Maniscalco Are Taking Over Clinton’s Lucky Horseshoe Lounge

Rally Pizza’s Shan Wickham, a pastry chef, and Alan Maniscalco, an alumnus of Ken’s Artisan Pizza, are crossing the river once again to take over a Southeast Clinton bar. Lucky Horseshoe Lounge, the low-lit watering hole in the talent-packed intersection home to Magna and Broder, will reopen this spring with a menu of Italian American snacks and amaro-spiked cocktails.

Wickham and Maniscalco opened Vancouver’s Rally Pizza in 2016, a standout pizzeria with frozen custards. At the time, there was very little like it in the Washington city, and they were the first of a small wave of Portland expats opening restaurants in the area (Little Conejo, the now-closed Smokehouse Provisions). Rally closed at the end of 2022, but reopened in 2023 within Victor-23 Brewing.

At the Lucky Horseshoe Lounge, the couple will pull from Maniscalco’s personal and culinary history, focusing on Italian snacks like fried meatballs, garlic bread, and marinated olives. The menu will also include harder-to-find treats like fennel taralli, an Italian cracker, served with either tonnato or a vegan spread with olives, capers, and Calabrian chile.

Larger plates generally stick to pastas and sandwiches. Sandwiches are typically served hot and incorporate the classic Italian American canon: a beef, pork, and ricotta meatball sub; a crispy pork cutlet with fried caper mayonnaise; a prosciutto-and-fontina number with dijonnaise. Pastas include some fun, cheesy options, like cacio e pepe mac and cheese and spaghettini fritti. Naturally, Wickham will handle desserts, ranging from house gelatos and sundaes to zeppole accompanied by orange blossom honey.

The bar includes a number of standbys: Negronis, Sbagliato or otherwise, as well as martinis, Sidecars, Old Fashioneds, and other classic cocktails. House cocktails often incorporate Italian aromatized wines, amari, and liqueurs, be it a martini with Cocchi Americano or the Smokeshow, a blend of Amaro Montenegro, mezcal, reposado tequila, and Luxardo Maraschino. The wine list will hew Italian, while the beers and ciders will focus on the Pacific Northwest.

Wickham and Maniscalco hope to reopen the Lucky Horseshoe in late April; the bar is located at 2524 SE Clinton Street.