LOCAL Houston | The City Guide April 2018 | Page 32

FOOD | ARTS | COMMUNITY | STYLE+LEISURE GAME ON! Ubering just a few miles further than the norm for this month's bar review - we’re dropped on Telephone Road south east of the city in front of a low profile brick building mostly covered in brightly colored, quite eccentric, murals. On one end of the building, a bit of a pioneer to the area, the East End Barber has been doling out classic and stylish cuts since 2015. The other half of the building is something totally new, and totally applicable for the family issue. It’s Houston’s newest craft coffee, gamer of all types hangout located at 1318 Telephone Road. Coral Sword (of Final Fantasy fame) is a collaboration of friends including former Astro Hunter Pence and his wife Alexis, Ming Chen of Comic Book Men and the duo behind local favorites Greenway Coffee. Kudos to these guys for branching out (location and concept wise). Donned in 8-bit font all over its front door, and more murals and graffiti inside, the low profile building was remodeled resulting in low ceilings, and a serv- ing bar right (the tavern) in the center of the layout. Tables made for gaming are scattered throughout combining with raw brick walls and exposed HVAC. Full disclosure, we don’t know a lot about gaming these days (ok, in middle school we did play and still have quite the collection of Magic: The Gather- ing) but we do know Coral Sword has walls and walls of games and comic books ready to be enjoyed. Just be sure to spend a few Rupees on a drink at the tavern we mentioned because you know all these games are not free!! Jenga, Candy Land, Scrabble, Rhino Hero, games for families, games for parties, games for co-op-ing, and even a killer section of t-shirt (worth the trip alone honestly), Coral Sword has some game for everyone. And we also don't exactly know what Twitch TV is, they’re on it (from that podcast booth). Check the schedule online. Or, they have good coffee drinks and food. For now Coral Sword is serving up a solid variety of coffee options and teas, including Matcha Lattes, Tur- meric Chai, and Nitro Thai (from Rice Box) and very soon they’ll have beer (8 on tap, expect quality craft options) and wine too. Because gaming, both electronic and board, give you the munchies, Morningstar donuts, breakfast tacos, pizza, chicken strips and cheese sticks are on the menu. Our recent saturday night trip was empty in the podcast booth, but just about every table was full, and the groups, ranging in size and demographics seemed like a bunch of people us non gamer types would like. CORAL SWORD 03.22.2018 2:05pm 1318 Telephone Rd. | Houston, TX 77023 | 832.303.9891info@cor- [email protected] | www.twitch.tv/coralsword www.facebook.com/coralsword | www.instagram.com/coralsword M-Sa: 7am-12am | Sun: 10am-10Pm By Mike Cook | Photography by James Medford 32 L O C A L | 4 . 2018 4 . 2018 | L O C A L 33