NY Plugs — Flynn McGarry
Food, drink, and leisure recs from the Cove & Gem Home chef + LINKS
Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. On most Saturdays, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in New York or Los Angeles who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!
#15 is Flynn McGarry, the chef-owner of the fine dining Cove and everyone’s favorite downtown cafe-meets-shop, Gem Home. Flynn is an L.A. native with a penchant for peak-season produce. At Cove, California is the throughline of the always-evolving menu, offered as a set of four courses or à la carte. And at Gem Home, where my favorites include the sweet potato sandwich and the cardamom bun, SoCal kombucha (Balo!) and olive oil (Inez!) are available for purchase. Yet despite this enduring tie to the West Coast (which I really, really get), Flynn has been cooking and creating in New York City for over a decade. He’s long been a fixture at the Union Square Greenmarket, and recently, he’s been posting market reports and writing about the latest happenings at his restaurants on Substack. Here’s Flynn with his Plugs.
Restaurant — Torishin
Torishin holds a very special spot in my restaurant rotation. The amount of chicken I eat there in one seating usually satisfies my craving for a few weeks at a time, but when the craving returns, it’s the only place I think of for the crunchy knee cartilage. Sit at the counter, do the set menu, drink many cold Suntory Premium Malts, and watch the chefs grill skewers in front of the bamboo garden in the back.
