Blue Ribbon Sushi is now open in Henderson’s Green Valley Ranch resort.
“It feels amazing to be open,” chef, partner and Blue Ribbon co-founder Bruce Bromberg told Neon News at the event. “We’ve been working really hard on this project for a couple of years now. “
This marks the second Station Casinos venue for Bruce and his brother Eric, who founded the Blue Ribbon brand in Lower Manhattan in 1992 and came to Las Vegas to open a sushi restaurant in the brand new Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in December of 2010. That restaurant was converted to a French brasserie in 2017 (around the same time the Cosmopolitan added the Japanese-centric Zuma to its restaurant portfolio).
After testing the off-Strip waters with a fried chicken spot in Downtown Summerlin, the brothers entered Summerlin’s upscale dining market at the Red Rock Resort, where Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill opened in January 2019.
Serving The ‘Burbs
“It was a learning curve for us in the beginning,” Bromberg says of bringing an upscale Strip concept to the Summerlin-adjacent neighborhood.
And yet, he says, it was in many ways a natural fit.
“We started in New York in a tiny little 48-seat restaurant in a side street in SoHo. We’ve always been a village restaurant. Even when we opened at Cosmo, we wound up having the most local clientele coming in of any of the restaurants.”
Plenty of locals were in attendance at the opening party, along with fans from New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere. They were greeted by traditional Japanese drummers and dancers and a wide assortment of sushi, sliders and other signature items.
Expanding The Menu
The menu at Green Valley Ranch mirrors that at Red Rock, combining a large sushi and sashimi selection with burgers and wagyu steaks from the grill and a togarashi and wasabi-infused take on the Brombergs’ signature matzo fried chicken. But Bruce says the team has added some new dishes to coincide with the new space.
“One of the really fun things is we’re doing these sizzling fried rice dishes – tobanyaki style dishes,” he notes. “We’ve always had the oxtail and bone marrow fried rice. But now we’re doing an array of tobanyaki … like garlic shrimp and mushroom fried rice.”
They’re also preparing to launch a social hour, with specials priced from $9 from 3:30 to 6 p.m.
What’s Next?
Will their sushi concept’s success in the suburbs lead to more off-Strip Blue Ribbon venues?
They’re already working on a new Mediterranean concept called Ortikia for Green Valley Ranch. It’s been described as a cross between a backyard barbecue, beachside fish shack and upscale dinner party. Look for that to debut later this Spring in a space adjacent to the new sushi bar and grill.
As for their existing brands – which range from fried chicken to French restaurants to live music venues – Bromberg pauses briefly to consider which might work in the Las Vegas suburbs.
“If we could ever find a space big enough for Brooklyn Bowl in the ‘burbs,” he offers cautiously before trailing off, referencing the bowling alley/restaurant/live music venues Blue Ribbon operates in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Nashville and on the Las Vegas Strip.
After that pause, he laughs somewhat skeptically, adding, “I don’t know if we could.”
It’s worth noting that Station Casinos operates three bowling alleys in our valley and multiple live music venues. So, who knows?
