Traveling Through with David Prior
Traveling Through with David Prior

Flynn McGarry on Collecting Taste and Technique

August 13, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Flynn McGarry on Collecting Taste and Technique

Flynn McGarry started cooking professionally at age 10, was covered as a child prodigy in global publications, and could have easily burned out. At 27, he runs two New York restaurants—Cove and Gem Home—that represent his most complete expression yet. His path from California to Scandinavia to Japan, and now to designing spaces that deliver a total vision, reveals something unusual: a chef who treats taste, technique, and interior design as the same kind of collecting.

The Stage That Stuck

McGarry finished high school early and, instead of college, went to Europe to work in kitchens the way chefs used to. At 16, he landed at Maaemo in Oslo—a two-Michelin-star restaurant with a small team. He chose it partly because Scandinavians speak English, partly because the chef was young and the kitchen small enough that he wouldn't be lost among a hundred cooks. "I spent ninety percent of my time filling molds with things," he says. But the experience drilled into him skills he still uses daily. "Every single thing that I learned there is drilled into my brain. I could probably make all of the dishes that I cooked there from memory today."

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:13) **Taste: Innate or Learned?** - Introduction to chef Flynn McGarry as a child prodigy who has become a credible force in New York dining.
  • 2 (01:21) **The First Professional Journey: Scandinavia** - Flynn describes his plan to finish high school early and stage in Europe, choosing Scandinavia for its language and distinct culinary styles.
  • 3 (07:34) **The Death of Destination Dining?** - Flynn discusses the shift from traveling specifically for a fine-dining restaurant to traveling for a holistic point of view.
  • 4 (10:34) **Warning Signs: The 50 Best Lists and Hotel Homogenization** - Flynn critiques the “symbiotic hellscape” of awards lists, where everyone chases the same aesthetic.
  • 5 (14:44) **The Restaurant with Rooms: A Point of View** - Using La Dwayne as an example, Flynn admires the model of a restaurant that happens to have rooms, not a hotel with a restaurant.
  • 6 (18:38) **Defining the Flynn McGarry Style: California, Scandinavia, Japan** - Flynn breaks down the three major influences on his cooking.
  • 7 (21:05) **The New York Omakase: Lessons from Japan** - Flynn explains how he is adapting Japanese hospitality principles for a New York audience.

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Show Notes

At age ten, Flynn McGarry was cooking professionally and covered as a curiosity by publications around the world. Now 27, he runs the New York restaurant Cove and cafe-meets-farm-stand Gem Home. Despite the headlines accompanying his arrival onto the scene, his personal and professional evolution has been much quieter and more studied. Flynn joins the show to trace the stages, flea markets, design obsessions, and far-flung meals that have shaped his singular vision, and to make the case that a restaurant is always the sum of everything around it.

Traveling Through is proudly presented by Capital One. Eligible cardholders can book unforgettable experiences at entertainment.capitalone.com.

Photo Credits:
- Misc. Designmuseum Danmark Installations. Courtesy of: Designmuseum Danmark
- Passalacqua hotel exteriors and interiors. Courtesy of: Designmuseum Danmark

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