geeks! gaming! go!

The Avengers of coffee and gaming unite for new East End cafe devoted to geek culture

Across America, geeks have won the battle for cultural supremacy. Comic book and sci-fi movies top the box office. The Big Bang Theory is the country’s highest rated scripted TV show. Thousands and thousands of people dress up like superheros to attend comic conventions. A gathering of friends is more likely to include a game of Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne than Monopoly or Clue.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that an unlikely cast has come together to launch a new business that celebrates coffee, games, and comic books. Like the members of the Avengers or the Justice League, they’re united by some common interests — swap coffee and gaming for saving the world — but they also bring a diverse set of skills to Coral Sword, the games cafe that opens in Houston’s East End on Friday, February 2 at 7 am.

San Francisco Giants outfielder (and former Houston Astro) Hunter Pence and his wife Alexis bring an enthusiasm for the power of the Twitch streaming platform that shaped the creation of Coral Sword’s content studio as a platform to broadcast game-related video — as it did when NBA All-Star Steph Curry stopped by to play Mario Kart — or to record podcasts. Reality TV star Ming Chen (AMC’s Comicbook Men) brings a passion for comic books that fuels the cafe’s lending library of graphic novels.

Barista David Buehrer and his partner Ecky Prabanto bring the experience of operating some of Houston’s most acclaimed coffee shops — Blacksmith, Greenway Coffee & Tea, and Morningstar — as well as their extensive knowledge of how to create restaurants that appeal to Houstonians. Sanford Bledsoe III (known as Sandy) is a trained barista who helped develop the comic and board game selection at Vault of Midnight, a store in Ann Arbor, MI that received the ultra-prestigious Will Eisner "Spirit of Comics" Award at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2010; he moved to Houston to be part of Coral Sword.

“I’m still pinching myself. I still think I’m dreaming that this place exists, because I’ve never been to a place like this before,” Chen tells CultureMap. “It’s a mashup of everything I love: comics, beer, gaming, comics, video games, you can podcast back there. Most important of all, it’s a place I can come and hang out with my friends.”

Coral Sword caters to a diverse set of potential customers. East End residents with no interest in gaming or comics can come by for coffee, tea, doughnuts (by Morningstar), baked-to-order pizza, and gamer-friendly fare like chicken strips and cheese sticks (really). In six weeks or so, Coral Swords will offer 10 taps or craft beer and wines by-the-glass.

Groups of friends that want to gather for casual games can check out one of the 50 options from the cafe’s game library. Patrons can choose from famous titles like Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride to casual, quick-play affairs like Hey, That’s My Fish or family-friendly options with multi-generational appeal. Purchase a new game to take home from the store’s retail section.

“There’s so many games I want to shout out,” Alexis Pence says. “They’re very specifically curated because they’re games that we know people will enjoy. If you come in with a party, [we can suggest] these are games that are good for eight people or just two.”

Hard core gamers may choose to rent time in the content studio to broadcast their video game heroics or to record a podcast using the studio’s high quality microphones and powerful computer. The Danger Room offers space for organized tournament of both video games and board games; Friday nights are devoted to Magic: The Gathering, which is a personal favorite of Buehrer’s.

“If someone wanted to have their Dungeons & Dragons night and they didn’t want to pick up after everyone, we’ll set up a table of eight,” Buehrer says. “If you want to stream it online, I’ll help you do that, too. Someone could have a Dungeons & Dragons channel creating content from our space.”

Take a video tour of Coral Sword courtesy of our content partners at ABC-13:

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Coral Sword, 1318 Telephone Rd.; 832-303-9891; Monday through Saturday, 7 am - midnight ; Sunday, 10 am - 10 pm

Ecky Prabanto, David Buehrer, Ming Chen, Sandy Bledsoe, Hunter and Alexis Pence.

Photo by @thekurokuma

Ecky Prabanto, David Buehrer, Ming Chen, Sandy Bledsoe, Hunter and Alexis Pence.

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the more things change

Houston's essential Jewish diner looks better than ever after refresh

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

It’s tricky to renovate a restaurant that’s as essential to its community as New York Deli. A staple of Houston’s Jewish community for almost 50 years, the tiny restaurant near Meyerland will serve as many as 400 people during a busy Sunday brunch.

Still, the time had come, as the tape on the deteriorating banquettes and peeling wallpaper illustrated. With the restaurant’s lease up for renewal, co-owner Michael Saghian saw an opportunity for some updates.

“I couldn’t be the new guy who ruined the place by moving it,” he tells CultureMap. “We worked out a deal with the landlord [to stay] and did a big refresh.”

The most noticeable change is the removal of the restaurant’s front door and vestibule. Instead, diners enter through the restaurant’s companion bagel shop. Separate entrances made sense when the bagel shop was certified kosher by local religious authorities, but now that designation only applies to the Bellaire location that opened in 2020. Not only is the new setup easier for people with mobility issues to navigate, it allows more light into the dining room, brightening the place considerably..

Saghian and co-owner Riana Sherman worked with interior designer Erin Hicks on the refresh. Tables, chairs, and banquettes are all new, but the color scheme remains the same. The process yielded 10 more seats, and the furniture is a little more durable, too.

“People have flipped chairs because they’re so lightweight,” Sherman says. “We got a sturdier chair.”

Behind the scenes, an expanded kitchen allows for the restaurant’s cooks to work faster and more efficiently. An additional egg cooker should cut down the amount of time people wait for their food to arrive.

“The kitchen had one of everything. Now we have two of everything. We can pump out a lot more food,” Saghian says.

Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers such as the “bagel girls,” a group of woman who’ve eaten breakfast at the restaurant since the ‘80s. A piece of old wallpaper has been framed and hung on the wall, too, as a nod to the space’s history.

New York Deli interior changes Photographs on the walls honor longtime customers.Photo by Sergio Trevino

Photo by Sergio Trevino

The dining room has more light than ever.

Saghian says he suffered from sleepless nights as he worried about people’s reactions to the changes, but so far his customers have been effusive.

“It still feels like an old school diner,” Saghian says. “It has pieces you remember. Even the new stuff is old school.”

While the physical environment is new, the staff remains the same. To ensure he kept the same team of cooks and servers, Saghian paid their wages for the two weeks the restaurant was closed for renovations.

Even more importantly, the prices are the same. That’s something that will make even the oldest regulars happy.

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