Andrew Sargent, the winner of the first season of Netflix's Next Gen Chef, plans to open a tasting menu restaurant called Caroline in Flatiron. According to Eater New York, which first reported the news, the restaurant is slated to open in the spring at 16 W. 18th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues.
Caroline will seat 40 in the dining room, with an additional six seats at the bar, in 1,900 square feet. The menu will cost $225 and run 10 courses, rotating with the seasons. Dishes described in the report include 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.
Sargent, 31, grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. He worked in Dallas at the French Room at the Adolphus Hotel and at Bouillon before moving to New York in 2018. Here he worked as a saucier at Cafe Boulud and then as a sous chef at Restaurant Daniel. He later cooked at Per Se, where he was a sous chef when he competed on Next Gen Chef. The show's first season aired in 2025, and he won it. He left Per Se in January to focus on opening Caroline.
Sargent told Eater, in a message sent over Instagram, that New York is where he wants to stay. "I really just love New York so much," he wrote. "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."
He also explained the choice of address. Flatiron, he wrote, is "refined and luxurious without being the ultra-old-money neighborhood." He added: "But it's also fun and young, but not necessarily hyper-trendy." The location sits near the Union Square Farmers Market, which he noted is an advantage.
The $225 price places Caroline among the city's higher-priced tasting rooms. The menu leans on French technique, in line with Sargent's training at Daniel, Cafe Boulud and Per Se. The report does not say when reservations will open or give a firm opening date beyond spring.