Cosmopolitan Will Get Buzzy The Corner Store, Blue Ribbon to Close

By Scott Roeben, on January 17 2026
5 min read 1 comment
Las Vegas Las Vegas Restaurants

A New York City hotspot, The Corner Store, will open its second location at Cosmopolitan in fall of 2026.

In related, more awkward, news, The Corner Store is moving into the Blue Ribbon American Grill & Oyster Bar space. Blue Ribbon, which was mediocre, so don’t get all weepy about its closure, will serve its final oyster on Feb. 16, 2026. Look, if it were stellar, it wouldn’t be shutting down. Let’s be adults about this.

The Corner Store has created buzz with its elevated American fare, known in the business as “food Vital Vegas typically avoids, but they have five-cheese pizza rolls, so we’re in like Flynn.” It debuted in SoHo in September 2024. If you didn’t know SoHo is short for “South of Houston Street,” you are an unsophisticated rube and The Corner Store may not let you in based on that fact alone. And if you didn’t know this particular “Houston” is pronounced “how-stun,” you are definitely not getting in, ever.

Images courtesy of The Corner Store’s Facebook page. Their brand might be cool, but their social media posts are pure lamesauce.

For our fellow youths, the phrase “in like Flynn” dates back to the mid-1940s, a time when “mid” meant “middle” and not “meh.” The Flynn involved is Errol Flynn, the swashbuckling movie star famous for his on-screen charisma and off-screen reputation for having impeccable rizz. Anyway, “in like Flynn” meant “to get in with little effort or resistance.” Which draws attention to the fact that 1) we didn’t use the phrase correctly, 2) some mid-1940s phrases had a definite Bill Cosby vibe. We trust our fellow youths have no idea who Bill Cosby was, but at one time, he was one of America’s most successful comedians and TV stars. That was before the sexual assault allegations, which Cosby was convicted for, but then the conviction was overturned because America’s justice system continues to be a model of consistency and fairness, no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary.

So, The Corner Store! It’s probably evident by now we know virtually nothing about The Corner Store, but food people are very excited, so we’ll fake it until we can try it.

From what we can tell, The Corner Store comes from Catch Hospitality Group, the long-running New York-based operator founded by Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum (their EMM Group was founded in 2006, it later became Catch), best known for building the Catch brand into a national, scene-driven restaurant portfolio. If Catch sounds familiar, that’s because there’s a Catch at Aria.

The other catch is it’s nearly impossible to self-park without getting completely lost at Aria, but that’s for another time.

Catch restaurant opened at Aria on October 29, 2018, replacing Bar Masa and Tetsu. We have not dined at Catch because it sounds like it might involve seafood, Mother Nature’s way of punishing mankind for deforestation.

All modesty aside, we should get a Nobel Prize for fake billboards.

Bajillionaire Tilman Fertitta got involved with Catch Hospitality in 2017 when his company Landry’s, Inc. acquired a 50% ownership stake in then-EMM Group. Fertitta is now a partner and co-owner of Catch Hospitality.

Landry’s operates 40 distinct brands, with 600 locations and $3 billion in annual revenue, so Tilman Fertitta knows a little something about restaurants.

If you ask the Internet what makes The Corner Store special, it seems to be a lot about the vibe, which is always a little concerning. Anything involving “scene-chasers” makes our skin crawl.

But what about the menu?

One writer said, “The Corner Store’s stated intention seems to be…adult cuisine as imagined by children. Nostalgia is a key driver of the menu, for chef as much as for clientele.”

Just when we thought we were out, they pulled us back in.

Another descriptor that caught our eye: “It doesn’t take itself too seriously.”

Now, we’re getting somewhere.

Look, if Taylor Swift likes it, we’re onboard.

Here’s what Corner Store says about its menu: “Our menu is straightforward, yet nostalgic, and inspired by the things people know and love—such as Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Caesar Salad with crispy cream cheese and everything bagel croutons, Lobster & Caviar Rolls, Wagyu French Dip with steaming au jus poured tableside, French Fries with our own secret sauce, and a Samoa Sundae & Apple Hand Pies for dessert.”

Here’s the menu from the NYC location that should provide some insights into what’s in store. Everything will be better in Las Vegas, of course.

Please feel free to leave the tuna tartare in NYC. Raw things are weird unless they’re dogs.

The all-important desserts on the NYC menu: Samoa Sundae (coconut soft serve, brown butter caramel, Valrhona Chocolate fudge, salted shortbread crumble, toasted coconut), Apple Hand Pies (Granny Smith apple, shortbread crust, spiced dulce de leche, vanilla bean Dixie cup), Harry’s Berries & Cream (salted vanilla bean Chantilly cream, lemon cookie crumble), Compressed Melon (Tuscan melon, lime syrup, sea salt, Szechuan pepper) and chocolate soft serve (chocolate sprinkles, maraschino cherry).

In a crazy twist, the name of our band in high school was The Compressed Melons. What are the chances?

You would think three arms would be helpful for a guitar player, but Kevin’s gift cost a fortune in custom blazers.

Martinis are also a big part of the buzz about The Corner Store.

Here’s a blurb from The Corner Store about its cocktail program: “We have a culinary approach to our cocktail program, using techniques like infusion, cryovac, sous vide, milk washing and oil washing and tools like a refractometer to dial in sugar levels. Like a scratch kitchen, we make all ingredients in-house—from juicing citrus daily to making fresh grenadine—the only ingredient that comes out of a bottle at The Corner Store is the liquor. Our program features creative twists on classic cocktails, with the martini at its core. Some highlights include an umami-forward Tomato Martini, a dill-infused Sour Cream & Onion Martini, and a tableside martini service for a Dirty Martini tasting experience of our Oli’s Dirty Martini and The Filth Martini—both brines made in-house. All of our martini recipes are precisely refined to the exact weight and percentage of water dilution, and then stored in our zero-degree Fahrenheit freezers delivering a perfectly chilled martini every time.”

This is the martini menu in NYC.

Following the ugly breakup of The Compressed Melons (the specifics are very private, but involved our guitarist, Kevin, a youth pastor and several chocolate eclairs that had been left in a car with its windows closed on a warm day), we started another band, Filthy Brine.

The Corner Store at Cosmo will have three bars. Like we said, it’s Vegas.

Learn more about the original Corner Store on the official site.

What an exciting announcement! MGM Resorts is obviously looking for new partners, and we hope they continue to replace the forgettable fare in their current restaurant lineup (excluding the excellent Superfrico, of course). Most of the restaurants are fine, but are taking up space that could be better devoted to excellence. Scarpetta, mid. Momofuku, mid. Amaya, mid. Block 16 Food Hall, mid. Eggslut, mid. Wicked Spoon, mid. Overlook Grill, mid. Secret Pizza, mid (unless completely wasted). China Poblano, not even good enough to be mid. Milk Bar, terrible. STK, mid (great + loud = mid).

Anything we didn’t mention probably needs to be put out to pasture, too, because it means we haven’t tried it. And if we haven’t tried it, it means it’s not good enough to try, adios.

We will definitely be trying The Corner Store. We are trying to set aside our feelings about Vegetarian Chicken Parm (that’s an oxymoron) to focus on the Five Cheese Pizza Rolls and chocolate soft serve.

Oh, and a personal note to Catch Hospitality Group: Fix The Corner Store as a name. We’ve seen this scenario countless times. A hugely successful restaurant (or whatever) comes to Vegas with a bit of an attitude, feeling like their brand is so hawt it’s bulletproof. Trust us, it’s not. “The Corner Store” is confusing. It’s not on a corner and it’s not a store. You can call it The Corner Store Restaurant & Bar(s), but if you don’t, you’re going to face an uphill battle in a crowded and competitive market (currently facing challenges related to visitation, among other things) after the initial buzz dies down. You’re welcome.