What Does It Take to Open a New York Restaurant? Let Flynn McGarry Explain.

Yesterday, culinary boy wonder Flynn McGarry opened Cove, his brand-new California-inspired fine-dining spot in the West Village. At 26, the restaurateur boasts the kind of resume most chefs only dream of, having apprenticed at several Michelin-star restaurants as a teenager before opening Gem, his first restaurant, in 2018. But that doesn’t mean this whole food thing has gotten any easier. Over the last month, we asked McGarry to document the arduous process of opening a restaurant, from troubleshooting the HVAC to testing various dishes until they’re fit for consumption. Against all odds, he even found some time for a tennis match.

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SEPTEMBER 1

One day before we release reservations. I got an early start to the month, knowing there was not going to be enough time. I was worried the night before that the Djokovic US Open night match would go too long and I would get off to a slow start, but he won quickly in straight sets. The 1st was my real construction deadline, and it also was Labor Day, a day for people to not work. I was able to convince our contractor to bring in the framer to finish our ceiling in our back kitchen, one of the final pieces that had been delayed many times due to ductwork delays. As our ceiling tiles were popped in place I double checked our reservation details before things would go live the next day.

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SEPTEMBER 2

Running a restaurant is mostly about getting things repaired. Fridges, ice machines, HVAC, floors. Everything needs constant upkeep and repairs. I had foolishly thought we had some time before having to worry about this. I came into Cove to a new fridge running at 80 and an ice machine running error code 4. Reservations went live, with a few final checks, friends and family invites got sent out, and I spent my night reading the Scotsman error code manual.

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SEPTEMBER 3

September 3rd was our announcement day. After two-and-a-half years, it was time to show what we’ve been working on. T Magazine was posted and the day should’ve been spent reflecting and excitedly sharing, but it was also our first full day in the kitchen. We were prepping for an offsite event in Long Island. It was a day to find a rhythm within our kitchen team. We spent lots of time on large projects—peeling pounds of small tomatoes, drying peppers, killing and cleaning lobsters. I had been worried about how long it would take to find our confidence using the kitchen, but by the end of the day it was starting to feel natural, even with a broken fridge.

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SEPTEMBER 4

We arrived early, ready to load out to our event in Long Island. This day was the perfect scheduling need, since we were able to continue to work with the team in another location while the plumber finalized our last sprinkler location. Our event went well, and I arrived back to the restaurant around 1 AM with lots of dirty dishes and the sprinkler plumbers making the restaurant look like a full construction site again. It would take a lot to get us back on the right track.

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SEPTEMBER 5

After only a couple hours of sleep, I arrived back to Cove. To my surprise, the contractors had already cleaned up most of the mess from the day before. There was an amazing symphony happening this day with everyone cleaning, scrubbing dishes and cleaning carrots, contractors removing final debris and materials. The symphony slowed with the door installers, who took almost a week to install the other set of our doors and found themselves inconvenienced by just about anything. This time around, they were in constant shock by other people having to use the entryway to the restaurant. Almost everyone I have worked with in construction seems to be shocked that other things have to happen at the same time as them. After lots of intense negotiations and apologies for having to use the entrance to my restaurant, they sort of finished the doors around 9 PM. The next day, our final millwork was being installed and I was hoping to call it a day on construction.

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SEPTEMBER 6

Looking back, this was a great day. As our final wall panels were installed, we spent the day prepping for an event on Tuesday with J.Crew. This event was another great opportunity to try out some of the new things we’d been working on, but with the added help of a large catering company. We made some sauces, I had a shopping spree at the restaurant supply store, and then headed out to Long Island for a final large harvest from our garden and a small Sunday of rest.

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SEPTEMBER 8

Our kitchen team had the day off, so I spent most of the day catching up on computer work and oiling the last bits of wood in the restaurant. I also escaped for a much needed tennis match, my only one in the month of September—something I need to work on in October. Just one hour, but it can be the most needed mental break from a restaurant. The mental break was lost when returning home to the sounds and smells of San Gennaro taking over my apartment while trying to move over our last plateware from my house to Cove.

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SEPTEMBER 9

Tonight we cooked our J.Crew event. They had transformed a building into a J.Crew townhouse filled with lots of friends including Martha Stewart (who said she would call me for a reservation at Cove). She doesn’t have my phone number, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out.

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SEPTEMBER 10

I had the lofty goal of cooking through the whole menu this day. A lot of it worked, like a dish of tuna and dried tomatoes that didn’t end up making the menu because of price, and a lot didn’t work. I would venture to say almost the entire first menu was scrapped. This was a fear of mine. I was trying to create a whole new dialogue for our food without enough time in this kitchen and it felt like playing a long match without any warm up. I went back to the drawing board.

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SEPTEMBER 11

We had more menu successes this day: a crab custard with leeks and ginger, a spicy turmeric and carrot broth, this fig paste that was great for something else. However, I spent more time than I wanted at Olde Good Things negotiating with the guy who worked there to try to get some very heavy glass into my car. He didn’t believe it could fit, but it did and completed our entryway.

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SEPTEMBER 12

Spent a long day doing more cleaning and more cooking. The menu was only halfway there, but at least it looked like a restaurant. We had our Department of Health walkthrough, which went surprisingly well (this is always a huge source of stress when opening a restaurant, and at least I feel slightly more prepared this time around).

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SEPTEMBER 13

This was the day I wanted to finalize the menu. I didn’t. But our service director Otis was able to finalize our amazing juice pairing and our wine director Paris was able to finalize our wine pairing. The menu was 90% of the way there, but the last 10 ended up being the hardest section to figure out. I took a full day off to reset and try to get reinspired. I looked through some old cookbooks, one from Manresa, a three-star restaurant in California, and one from George Blanc on cooking vegetables. I was intrigued by his fruit soups, but they haven’t worked for me yet.

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SEPTEMBER 15

Today was mostly organizing and cleaning. At night, Frederik Nystrup-Larsen, who did our paintings, came by Cove to help with the final layout. It was an amazing feeling of accomplishment having spent around two years discussing the work. They are instrumental to the restaurant and I couldn’t imagine the space without the life he gave it.

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SEPTEMBER 16

The day started out not so great. In my previous day of exhaustion I misplaced my car keys. It turns out the process of getting a new key involves towing, a dealership, and a couple-thousand dollars. Opening a restaurant is nothing but dealing with a new crisis every day—and this was today’s. But I took solace in the Russ & Daughters breakfast I had while waiting for the tow truck and the forced email time I had while I was there.

After the car was towed, the rest of the day was spent doing a bit of prep with the team and taking down all of our curtains to be hemmed by 3/4 inch because they were slightly slouching. I told myself that my goal in this opening was to never say “we’ll get to this later.” I didn’t achieve that in many cases, but this was one that was worth the disruption for a perfectly hung curtain.

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SEPTEMBER 17

This was the day before our press preview. Scrubbing day. We installed the most beautiful but slightly delicate Dinesen Douglas fir floor and it needed a hand scrub before people could see it. I also spent about two hours adjusting the bathroom lighting and taking many selfies to find the right glow for our guests. It turned out that the vintage sconces I bought only work with fluorescent lighting, so I had to bring out my slightly not fire code hack of putting our cream-colored kitchen masking tape on the lights to create the right color and light diffusion.

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SEPTEMBER 18

Today we had the press preview, where friends and press alike came by to celebrate the space with me. The idea was to have a moment to enjoy the space (myself included!) before being fully immersed in work. Otis made a significant amount of fig leaf martinis for the guests. Our team started to find a groove and, with me slightly out of the way, I was actually able to enjoy it. The speed of any opening is hard to translate to days or hours, but this night felt like a slight break between all of the work and an opportunity to celebrate all of the hours and years that went into just building the space on its own. I finished the night by almost falling asleep over a burger at Ear Inn.

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SEPTEMBER 19

September 19th began with a liquid nitrogen delivery at 9am. We had to preserve all of the last farm herbs. We had too much vinegar and blended oils, so we had to cryofreeze verbena, hyssop, and fennel to make salts and bright vibrant oils to hopefully spoon over ice cold fish in January.

I spent the morning at the farmer’s market rethinking our whole menu. The kitchen team was busy prepping for a friend’s engagement party Sunday so I had some space to ruminate. I made a couple of sauces that started to spark some excitement, and our first batch of koji came out of the fermentation fridge.

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SEPTEMBER 20

Starter plate — changed.

Beet salad — changed.

Tuna — changed.

This day began a long process of editing. This process requires removal of ego and concept. We are a week out—at this point, the only guiding principle is how we can best execute a delicious meal for our guests. The menu shrunk, the dishes changed, I felt better, more confident I can do this for 120 people five nights a week. Our team was making an Italian spread for the financiers while I was figuring out how to make a bowl out of a cauliflower (made it one night into friends and family).

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SEPTEMBER 21

The event went well. It was a fun and relaxed break from the intensity of testing week. We learned of our printer’s handicap and found out that the window people installed the second pane of glass over an uncleaned window, triggering my recurring why didn’t I catch that thought. We finished the night with some excellent Paloma’s, which made me glad we finally got a full liquor license.

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SEPTEMBER 22

This was the big week. Hourly staff beginning, many orientation hours, lots of patience. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my standing Monday therapy for this week.

Our cook team started today and the kitchen began to break into its different sections; blenders whirled all day with big batches of oils and sauces. The menu still wasn’t ready, and at this point I’m feeling it never will be.

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SEPTEMBER 23

All of the servers began today. We spent some hours going over the history of the restaurant, which I kept to the exciting parts. We went over how to walk in the dining room, place settings, menu verbiage. A lot of training is just spending time with each other, getting to know how someone can be inspired and encouraged, so we spent a lot of time chatting while doing napkin folds and polishing glasses.

My mom always said putting on a pop up felt like putting on a student play or student film. 15 years into the restaurant industry, it still feels like that, even with lots more pressure. This industry is based on people and encouraging them, but when you lose the feeling of individuality, the restaurant loses its soul. I’m sure there is a world in which this training feels impersonal and soulless, but I think I have a few more like this.

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SEPTEMBER 24

A lofty Wednesday. More training, with the goal of cooking through the entire menu. We got through half and the menu felt pretty much there for the first time in a month. I could see our food take shape as we picked out the specific plateware for each dish.

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SEPTEMBER 25

We decided to do a staff serving staff lunch service into a 40-person dinner service. It was a long day. The friends coming were told anything could happen. The first night of friends and family can be something unrecognizable. The night wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it did inspire a few more some small menu changes for us to be able to get through service.

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SEPTEMBER 26

This was the real test of a day: 80 covers, tables to turn. We weren’t ready for that scale yet. I learned the limitations of our seemingly large kitchen. To end the night on what some may call a good omen, one of our drains started leaking. Thankfully, a quick fix. That was the only photo I got that night.

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SEPTEMBER 27-29

A planned weekend off, I had another shopping spree at Win Restaurant Supplies, which is thankfully open on weekends. After reorganizing the dish pit and grill station, I made it home around seven and was asleep at 8 PM. On Sunday, I was able to work from home and have a much-needed lunch at Frenchette. Monday was mainly spent looking through reservations and getting through my inbox.

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SEPTEMBER 30

Friends and family week two. After the first week, we had two team members leave. It’s expected, unfortunately, but openings are always a fight-or-flight period. We were going into a very busy week down cooks, so we made the decision you can only really make when you know everyone coming and had to move a lot of friends’ reservations around. We had to slow down our growth to be able to achieve even the small goals. My main goal this week was to tackle our expediting system. This is the unsung hero of the restaurant, the expeditor sets the pace for the meal and is the only reason people know what they are doing. Our expediting is quite complicated with two menus and 10 people in the kitchen. We hit some strides this night, but also were able to identify the minute issues to fix in the coming days.

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OCTOBER 1

This day felt like a weight off of my shoulders. The team started to flow, the menu was being served in a correct number of hours, and we were able to know with certainty that we could do this every night. The menu was there, but an early chill means our tomato dish will have to change next week.

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