The diner format, completely reinvented

At Agnes and Sherman, Nick Wong is channeling a deeply personal story into one of Houston’s most compelling new openings. A 2026 James Beard finalist with fine-dining roots at spots like Momofuku Ko, Wong blends technical precision and Asian American flavors with the accessibility of the diner format. In this conversation, he unpacks the tension between tradition and reinvention, and why comfort, identity and community ultimately matter the most.

—Interview by Kelly Dobkin, edited by Bianca Prieto

Agnes and Sherman is an Asian American diner—a format that feels both nostalgic and new. How did you land on that framing, and what does it allow you to express that a more traditional restaurant model wouldn’t?

I wanted to bring two seemingly disparate types of food—diner classics and Asian American—under one roof to play with the idea that maybe they aren't so different after all. Diner classics like hamburgers, milkshakes and fries come to mind when you think of classic Americana items, but I would like to argue that dishes like fried rice, orange chicken and broccoli beef are just as much a part of the American experience. The entire genre of Chinese American dishes is an American invention, yet most people don't consider it part of the traditional American canon. 

Almost every town and city across the country has some sort of Asian/Chinese American restaurant, and you already know what's on the menu before you walk in the door, much like a traditional diner.  Being a non-traditional, casual restaurant allows us to playfully challenge diners' perceptions of what food should be. The cheeseburger fried rice is a great example of this. 

It's a blasphemous take on a cheeseburger and an abomination against fried rice, to purists of either genre.

But in a restaurant like ours, you don't expect to get a straightforward burger, nor do you expect a traditionally made fried rice. It's a third thing that is familiar in flavor, yet foreign in visual context. Something nostalgic, yet new. 

After time at high-end spots like Momofuku Ko in New York, how have you adapted that level of technical precision to a more casual, accessible concept?

I don't think I've necessarily had to adapt or dumb down any sort of technical precision to match a more casual concept. A medium-rare steak is a medium-rare steak whether it's at a fine dining restaurant or a diner. All skills and techniques are just tools, and they can be used in any context. The only thing that has really had to change for me is the volume and scale at which we need to produce.

One of the biggest challenges, technique-wise, has been learning to use a wok, as it hasn't really been part of my cooking repertoire until relatively recently. Not having anyone to teach me how to use one has been a double-edged sword, as I don't have the technical precision and skillset of someone who has been working on a wok their whole lives, but it also allows me a certain amount of freedom to experiment and try cooking things in a wok that you wouldn't normally.

The restaurant is deeply personal, named after your parents and rooted in your own cross-cultural upbringing. How do you translate something so intimate into a concept that still resonates with a broad Houston audience?

I think this very personal and very specific concept resonates with such a broad audience because diners sense that what we're doing is earnest and authentic. People connect with our food and our restaurant not because they have exclusively eaten at diners their whole lives or are Chinese American Californian transplants to Houston via New York, but because they connect with our joy, our warmth and the sense of community we try to cultivate. The human need for comfort and belonging is what we are offering to Houston, and, honestly, the food is secondary to that.

What advice do you have for other first-time restaurant owners?

Love what it takes. 

The Prep's Take

There's a growing demand among consumers for exciting, chef-driven concepts that are casual and approachable, much like Agnes and Sherman. By translating Asian American flavors and fine dining precision to the beloved diner format, Wong made the successful transition from chef to entrepreneur.

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The Prep is written by Kelly Dobkin and edited by Bianca Prieto.