Taylor Swift, Gigi Hadid have made Catch restaurants cool

Call it a comeback.

Over the weekend, Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid dined at The Corner Store in SoHo, adding more than a few moments to the new restaurant from Catch Hospitality.

The restaurants behind Catch and Catch Steak are suddenly on trend after years of being dismissed by New Yorkers as expensive and tacky tourist spots.

It has “Polo Bar vibes without the Karens,” Meg Radice, who frequents the diner and runs food review account The VIP List with 460,000 followers on TikTok, told The Corner Store.

It’s “the hottest restaurant in New York right now,” she added. “I thought that even before Taylor Swift walked through the door.”

Ella Kahan, a 27-year-old food influencer who runs the ChewYorkCity account, went on a recent Monday night and said, “The bar was packed when I walked in before the sun went down … Everyone had a martini.”

The new hotspot specializes in the classic cocktail, dedicating an entire menu section to it and even serving a $40 Martini Service for two.

The food menu includes nostalgic but expensive comfort fare such as an $18.50 pepperoni pizza roll appetizer; $24.99 artichoke and lobster fries $68.

The Corner Store is Catch Hospitality’s first restaurant in five years and its first location that doesn’t have “Catch” in the name.

The group opened the first Catch in the Meatpacking District in September 2011. Along with Tao Downtown and Buddakan, it was one of a group of club restaurants buzzing at the time, serving viral menu items in cavernous spaces. with loud music.

Catch expanded to Los Angeles in 2016, attracting stars like Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, Cindy Crawford and Sylvester Stallone, who eclipsed menu items like chicken lettuce cups, tuna over crispy rice cakes and #HitMe chocolate cake.

But over the years, Gothamites cooled off drastically in the once hot spot and became saturated with out-of-towners, unwanted models and tables of teenagers swiping their parents’ American Express cards.

She became so unpopular that her low status sparked an entire storyline on last season’s Real Housewives of New York.

Stars Brynn Whitfield and Sai De Silva turned down an invitation from his co-star Erin Lichy to eat at the restaurant, claiming they were “too tired”, but later found the energy to go to Casa Cipriani, where they raved that Catch was about “D list models”. “

Bravo initially released the name of the offending restaurant in the episode — adding to the intrigue — but Lichy later confirmed that the restaurant in question was indeed Catch.

“The catch was available,” she explained on Sirius XM’s “Jeff Lewis Live,” noting it was an easy last-minute reservation for a large group.

Getting a table at The Corner Store is quite difficult at the moment. Resy currently shows no availability for the next 14 days – as far as booking the restaurant in advance. Eugene Remm, co-founder and partner, told The Post that the restaurant already has a waiting list.

Radice said she had to go through a “friend of a friend” for a reservation.

Joseph Bonvouloir, founder and CEO of financial firm ALTI, said his friends have all asked for a table.

“Everyone is trying to get in, but it’s incredibly challenging even for my friends who are VIPs everywhere,” Bonvouloir, 28, said.

Those who have managed to go include Brazilian journalist/model Pedro Andrade, “it” girl Christina “Tinx” Najjar, author/influencer Eli Rallo and former “Housewife” Bethenny Frankel.

The latter exploded over the restaurant’s $22 Caesar salad with chunks of crunchy cream cheese and everything bagel croutons.

“Holy shit,” she said in a TikTok video. “We are here, and we have boarded.”

Despite such a clientele — and a menu full of dishes with viral potential — Remm said they weren’t intentionally targeting the influencer crowd, though they “are grateful for anyone who wants to share their experience with their friends and followers.”

He added, “We are thrilled with the enthusiasm our guests have shown for the new restaurant.”