Taylor Swift Has Already Been Twice: Is The Corner Store Worth It?

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Housed in the old Soho Dos Caminos space, the Corner Store has struck gold. It helps that Taylor Swift has already visited twice the restaurant from Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum (Catch Hospitality), along with Tilman Fertitta (the CEO behind brands like McCormick and Schmick’s and Rainforest Cafe).

The restaurant feels like a 2024 version of an ’80s fern bar, with checkered floors, wood paneling, antiqued brass, pine-green accents, big mirrors, cushy private booths, and leather-topped barstools. Rounded recessed ceilings create an intimacy like that of a retro train car. If you’re seated at a table toward the back of the dining room, you can easily see every diner in the place.

Unusual for new spots in 2024, there’s a dress code “of Smart Elegant attire,” it reads. “Any guest who does not appear sufficiently well-presented may be refused entry.” It appears to be somewhat arbitrary. “Please be aware that any decision regarding permitting entry to the restaurant is entirely at the management’s discretion.” Reservations are required and hard to get (unless you’re in the T-Swift entourage, apparently). A two-week view on Resy is entirely on notify.

Eater visited early on a weekday, when the dress code didn’t appear to be enforced, and made our way through some of the menu. Here’s the takeaway so far.

Two people walk by the Corner Store. — Outside the Corner Store.

Inside a narrow backed barroom during daylight. — Inside the Corner Store at the bar.

The space

Robert Sietsema: The main dining room looks down on a bar perpendicular to the doorway where every bar stools was filled. The main dining room was lined with wonderful photos — I spotted Salvador Dalí in one — but in general, you couldn’t see them without leaning over someone’s table. Big mirrors were everywhere, almost inducing vertigo as you tried to sort out what you were seeing — real or reflection?

Melissa McCart: It was cozier than I expected of a 4,500 square-foot space, long and narrow, with booths that allow for privacy. The back dining room is platformed so that it’s like a stage; if you’re seated up there it’s also a perfect vantage point for seeing everyone in the room.

The drinks

The sour cream and onion martini served with a tiny decanter on the side chilled on ice and a small serving of chips. — A sour-cream-and-onion martini.

Robert: The featured cocktails were fussy. At the top of the drinks menu were seven martinis ($19 to $21), including an espresso martini with vanilla, a tomato martini with Ethiopian koseret, and a sour cream-and-onion martini that comes with a handful of chips. It actually tasted okay and certainly looked like a martini, but was strictly for lovers of gimmicks.

Melissa: The martini list is the draw — part of a drinks list from Lucas Robinson, Alexis Belton (previously of the Aviary), and Dev Johnson (previously of Employees Only). I asked the server to pick a martini for me and that sour cream-and-onion was their choice; as a lover of gimmicks, apparently, I loved it. The Corner Store joins places like Hawksmoor and Shinji’s in playing with ways to keep martinis colder: In this case, it’s served in a smallish glass with the remainder on ice in a tiny decanter. It’s a nice detail.

The appetizers

A trio of pockets filled with cheese. — A trio of pizza rolls served with honey and ranch.

Robert: The apps appear to be the profit column of the menu; in addition to being expensive, they are also small. They are divided into two sections, Raw and Starters: From the first came a plate of red snapper crudo ($26) swimming in Sorrento lemon with the thinnest slices of caperberry imaginable.

The vaunted pizza rolls ($18.50) were — I’ll admit it — much better than Totino’s. They were genuinely tasty pillows of cheese and pepperoni with a nice pastry crust, sided by dips of honey and ranch dressing — which seems to be everywhere on the menu. This is trashiness for trashiness’s sake.

Melissa: I enjoyed the snapper crudo, with a little lemon and heat, though five slivers for $26 is kind of astounding. Those pizza rolls, perfect for Instagram, are a little too molten and creamy in the center for me, like sinking teeth in a soup. I’m not being critical so much as I feel absolutely no nostalgia for hot pockets and pizza rolls.

The entrees

A french dip served with a side of jus. — The French dip at the Corner Store.

Robert: The recreation of the French dip sandwich ($35) with wagyu prime rib was splendidly tender and fatty and the dipping sauce was the darkest jus imaginable, too salty to sip but perfect to dip.

The lobster frites ($68) are also a hit. A two-pound lobster is poached for about four minutes, chilled, split, and cleaned. Then the shell gets a thin layer of lobster butter. The meat returns to the shell, the tail sliced, and the meat is rearranged — claws in the body, for example, which makes each bite a surprise. Then it’s painted with another layer of butter, chilled, then slow-roasted, dressed with pink peppercorn breadcrumbs, and finished under a broiler. Two can poke at this dish, and don’t forget to dip the excellent fries in what amounts to a lobster bisque that remains in the shell once the meat is gone.

A splayed lobster served with a handful of fries. — Lobster frites.

Melissa: The French dip was satisfying, though the bread wasn’t great, so I’d probably bypass it for something else next visit (admittedly you probably want a squishy loaf to absorb the liquid). Yes, I rudely drank from the jus bowl and it is salty.

The culinary director for Catch Hospitality, Michael Vignola has assembled a menu of retro gems: The lobster frites is the sleeper hit. Our server mentioned it’s not one of the most popular dishes on the menu (it’s $68, after all), but it should be. I can imagine visiting again, a long time from now when I can actually get a seat at the bar, and ordering the dish to share with a friend.

A full, intimate dining room. — Inside the dining room at the Corner Store.

The scene

Robert: Did I love being at the Corner Store? Filled with scenesters, it had the kinetic energy a great restaurant often has in its opening days. The room hums but still feels like a shopping mall restaurant of the last century. Who knows how long the buzz will remain, but the pair of entrees are so good, I would return just to taste them again.

Melissa: A Wednesday before 6 p.m. does not encapsulate peak scene, though it was crowded. Earlier last week, I had a friend try to go as a walk-in and the door folks wouldn’t even let her put her name on a list. (Sounds like the Infatuation tried something similar.) In short, we regular diners have to wait for reservations released online two weeks in advance at 10 a.m. — or resign ourselves to a very early seat at the bar. That said, there are a lot of really fantastic restaurants that will gladly have our business: Maybe consider going to those for now unless you have a masochist streak.