The Comedy Cellar in New York City is renowned for premiering standup comedy’s most well-known names, including Jon Stewart, Ray Romano, Amy Schumer and a host of Saturday Night Live alums. When it opened a replica at the Rio last year, local comedy fans welcomed its format of five headliners doing 20-minute sets, in addition to an emcee.
But while most people go to comedy clubs for a laugh and a drink (or three), the Comedy Cellar also offers a dining option at its sister restaurant next door, the Fat Black Pussycat. There are dining tables for pre- or postshow noshing and imbibing, but if you are running short on time, you can also order with the waitstaff and have your food delivered to your table in the club.
Menu items can be ordered a la carte or as part of a three-course tasting show package ($59). All have cheeky, punny names—this is a comedy club, after all—such as Bite Me (jalapeno poppers, $10) and Oh, Kale No! (kale salad with Caesar dressing, $9). For entrées, Nacho Problem ($14) and Just Wing It ($14) are perennial favorites, while the wood-fired flatbread choices ($16 each)—Mother Clucker (with rotisserie chicken, arugula, pickled red onions) and I Fear the Wurst (with sausage, sweet onion, red pepper)—will have you chuckling long before the first comedian hits the stage.
And here’s a pro tip: Don’t skip dessert. I Like Big Bundt’s and I Cannoli Take It for So Long ($8 each) are the only appropriate ending to an evening of full-belly laughs.
The Fat Black Pussycat Comedy Cellar at the Rio, 702-777-2782. Nightly, 7 and 9 p.m
