Teen Chef Flynn McGarry’s $155 Tasting Menu is Now Available in LES

Teen chef Flynn McGarry — who is ready to turn 20 and stop being called a “teen chef” — recently opened the cafe half of his Lower East Side dual-concept restaurant Gem. Now, the restaurant is fully open, offering the flagship $155 tasting menu.

The 18-seat casual neighborhood cafe-style portion called The Living Room opened earlier this month, serving pastries like a blueberry violet muffin and sweet potato bread. But the true test of McGarry’s prodigy status starts tonight with the debut of the formal space, The Dining Room. Here, McGarry serves a 12- to 15-course menu for $155 that’s meant to evoke the feel of dinner party, with two seatings for 18 people each every night.

Photo by Alex Staniloff

The Dining Room menu will start with his signature dish — a take on a Ritz cracker sandwich with foie gras, peanuts, and sour cherry. Subsequent dishes will include a slow-roasted sunchoke with seaweed, pumpkin seed oil, and apples that’s plated like a fall wreath, as well as a winter squash topped with pumpkin seeds and accompanied by kogi and lime. One course in the set offers family-style portions of dishes like pasta. Everything is followed by dessert, petit fours, and after-dinner drinks back in The Living Room space.

McGarry got his early start in the culinary world by hosting dinner parties at his parents’ house at 13-years-old. Since then, he has staged at high-profile places like Eleven Madison Park and been declared the “Justin Bieber of food” for his prowess. Though he’s hosted upscale tasting menu pop-ups, this is the first time he’s locked into a permanent space.

See the space here. The Dining Room takes reservations and does two seatings, Tuesday through Saturday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.