A Texas chef who made his way to New York is opening a Flatiron tasting menu spot. Caroline from Andrew Sargent will reflect his training at restaurants like Daniel and Per Se, his first-season win on Next Gen Chef on Netflix, and his time as a chef in Dallas.
The restaurant is slated to open at 16 W. 18th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, in the spring.
Sargent’s $225 tasting menu will rotate seasonally among 10 courses. Look for dishes like pigeon with dirty rice and squab liver boudin; scrambled eggs with uni in a vol-au-vent with molasses; and a layered foie gras mousse and apricot creation.
He left Per Se this past January and focused on opening Caroline. It was during his time as a sous chef at Per Se when he competed on and won the first season of Next Gen Chef on Netflix in 2025. He moved to New York from Texas in 2018, where he worked as a saucier at Cafe Boulud and then a sous chef at Restaurant Daniel.
“I really just love New York so much,” Sargent writes over Instagram direct message. “I want to live here for the rest of my life. And then on top of that, I think there’s a certain requirement of excellence to be successful in this business here, and I really want to exist at that level.”
The 31-year-old chef grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and eventually worked at Dallas French restaurants French Room at the Adolphus Hotel and Bouillon.
Sargentis is happy with the Flatiron address too. “It’s refined and luxurious without being the ultra-old-money neighborhood,” he writes. “But it’s also fun and young, but not necessarily hyper-trendy.” The proximity to the Union Square Farmers Market doesn’t hurt either. Caroline will have 1,900 square feet with a 40-seat dining room and a six-seat bar.
