After finding a new permanent home on Washington Avenue, Riot Comedy Club is branching out.
The Riot Comedy Club was founded in 2020 and quickly became a hub for Houston’s comedy scene. Before moving to Washington, Riot was hosted on the second floor of Rudyard’s British Pub. Riot has two other locations in addition to its new permanent home on Washington Ave, one in Conroe and one in San Antonio.
The club’s new expansion effort, Riot Café, is set to open on October 17 at Riot Comedy Club’s 1925 Washington Ave. location. The new coffee shop exists alongside the comedy club in partnership with Katz Coffee. The new cafe will serve an exclusive Katz coffee blend for Riot Cafe.
The grand opening will offer free bites and cocktail and coffee tastings as well as a refillable Riot coffee tumbler for the first few guests.
Along with its special coffee blend, the cafe will serve breakfast and pastries, lunch, and shareable plates throughout the day before transitioning to evening service with coffee, along with cocktails, beer, wine, and more. The bar program is led by hospitality veteran Seth Fair, who serves as the club’s general manager.
The kitchen, overseen by longtime Houston comedy figure Rob Mungle, will serve croissant sandwiches, danishes, kolaches, yogurt with granola and berries and pressed juices in the morning. Lunch bites include pizza options and light bites like hummus and spinach artichoke dip.
“We wanted the café to have its own personality while still feeling like a natural part of The Riot,” Fair said. “The menu brings together a mix of familiar favorites and nostalgic items, along with comedy-inspired drinks, and partnering with Katz Coffee and MEP Cold-Pressed Juice was a great way to bring Houston local businesses into the mix.”
The café includes indoor seating and a 20-seat patio, totaling around 1,000 square feet, while the comedy club can accommodate 170 guests in its 2,200-square-foot performance space. The café space will offer free wifi as any respectable coffee joint would, making it a place to work or hold lunch meetings.
“The Riot Café gives us a space that can really evolve throughout the day with our guests,” Riot Comedy Club founder Brian Grendon said in a statement sent to Chron. “It can be a coffee shop in the morning, a place to grab lunch in the afternoon and a spot to have drinks and catch a show at night. That day-to-night experience is what makes it such a natural extension of The Riot Comedy Club.”