This 16-Year-Old Chef Is Set to Open His First NYC Restaurant

© Will McGarry

By Kate Krader

This fall’s NYC restaurant openings are already shaping up to be action-packed. Mario Batali! April Bloomfield! Michael White! Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi! They’re all launching spots. The scene is almost as crowded as the field of presidential nominees. And now, here comes a huge opening from a guy who won’t even be old enough to vote in the 2016 election.

Flynn McGarry, the 16-year-old wunderkind, will open Eureka at Creative Edge on September 12. A lot of people have heard of McGarry—he’s the California kid whose elaborate supper club earned him the cover of The New York Times Magazinewhen he was all of 15. Very few have gotten to taste his food (it’s outstanding). Here’s your chance to change that. Three days a week, McGarry will prepare a 14-course tasting menu for his 12-seat counter restaurant; it’s located on a West Village corner that’s part of Creative Edge catering.

McGarry’s menu will include one of his signature items, peanut Ritz crackers with foie gras terrine and sour cherry compote.

“Peanut butter and Ritz is everyone’s favorite snack, not just mine,” he says. But, he notes, it takes a long time to make the peanut crackers. “They’re fun, but a pain in the ass. I make the ridges on each cracker with a toothpick.”

He’ll also serve sea-water-brined sea urchin with carrot cremeaux and coffee-pickled carrots. Some of the menu is inspired by time he spent this summer staging at a pair of elite restaurants abroad, Maeemo in Norway and Geranium in Denmark, and traveling around Europe. His Instagram, @diningwithflynn, documents his summer work, and it’s not the same as the feeds of most 16-year-olds.

Reservations at McGarry’s restaurant are ticketed. You can book here: eurekanyc.com.

Dinners are $160, including tax and tip. Wine pairings are $80, or you can go with a wines-by-the-glass option. I hope everyone gets a chance to check out McGarry’s terrific cooking; who knows what he’ll want to do when he’s 18.

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