Austin360 blogs > Almost Urban > Archives > 2007 > April > 01 > Entry
Day and night at the Rio Rita Cafe y Cantina
I was grabbing a couple slices at East Side Pies last week when an innocuous pale blue flier on the wall caught my attention. It was an ad for the Rio Rita, describing the spot as “a mild-mannered coffee shop by day, a swanky lounge by night.” I was intrigued. On Saturday, I decided to give the club to the old Almost Urban truth-in-advertising test, and dropped by both in the afternoon and then again later in the evening. I wasn’t disappointed.
The Rio Rita is not a new club per se. The bar has existed on the east side of Sixth Street for over 40 years with a storied, sometimes violent past. After a period of vacancy, the club was recently taken over by Donya and Randall Stockton (owners of Beerland) who reopened the Rio Rita in early March, just in time for SXSW.
The current incarnation of the Rio Rita is a far cry from its rowdy predecessor. During daytime, sunlight streams in through the brightly painted orange security bars on the front windows and the espresso machine cheerily whirrs away in the background while gentle fish float in a wide tank built into one wall. A sparse assortment of light food offerings, including pizza from the aforementioned East Side Pies is available, as well as free wireless Internet. It was a lazy day at the cafe when we dropped by, but both our barrista Chad and the few loitering regulars were friendly. They made sure we met their favorite neighbor, Yagi the goat, beloved pet of Australian Cattle Gods record label owner Bryan Nelson and his fiance, rollergirl “Peachy Mean” of TXRD’s Rhinestone Cowgirls, who live next door.
When we returned to the spot later in the evening, the vibe was still quite low-key, but the swanky lounge potential of the club was clear. Right now the Rio Rita only serves beer and wine, but an application for a full liquor license is in the works. The back area of the bar is designed for clandestine sipping, with four distinctly decorated seating areas separated by ceiling-to-floor curtains for a sense of intimacy.
Music is provided by a CD jukebox on the wall. For $2 I put together an eight-song mix which included tracks by Nina Simone, Gilberto Gil and Stan Getz, The Heptones, Bob Marley and The Pixies. (The only hip-hop CD in the player is the soundtrack to “Hustle and Flow”. A few old school Tribe or De La cds, or perhaps one of Guru’s “Jazzmatazz” joints could round out the offerings a little, without disrupting the loungey vibe.) There are no plans to book live music at the Rio Rita, but the possibility of DJ events is being explored. Currently, the Rio Rita hosts the Nocturnal Film Society on the back porch with “the best in bizarre cinema” every Wednesday through Friday at 10 p.m., and the owners plan to start doing “Twin Peaks” Mondays (complete with cherry pie) in the not too distant future.
It’s a funky little spot, close to downtown, but off the beaten path, with that all-too-rare Austin bar feature — parking. East Austin is hot right now, with houses flying off the market as soon as they are listed and new condos going up on every corner. With a bohemian vibe and hipster-friendly vintage decor, the Rio Rita is likely to do well.
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