{"id":374136,"date":"2026-10-15T19:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T19:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/374136\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T19:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T19:22:10","slug":"nyc-restaurant-hags-is-closing-in-east-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/374136\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Restaurant HAGS Is Closing in East Village"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bad news: Vibrant tasting menu restaurant HAGS<\/a> is closing<\/a> in the East Village. The good news: Co-owners chef Telly Justice and sommelier Camille Lindsley are in the middle of relocating their queer restaurant<\/a> to Noho next year.<\/p>\n

The original East Village location, at 163 First Avenue near East 10th Street, is having its final day on Sunday, October 18, with a last pay-what-you-can brunch<\/a> from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. And then, HAGS 2.0 will open in Noho at 334 Bowery and East Third Street in January or February 2027.<\/p>\n

Justice tells Eater that the team signed the Bowery lease in June and began working on the new space at the beginning of September. They told their First Avenue landlord about leaving the address, using their good guy clause<\/a> (which allows them to get out of a commercial real estate lease with fair notice). It turns out that \u201ca very energized, enthusiastic tenant,\u201d per Justice, wanted to take over the address as soon as possible, which meant they had to leave in 30 days. HAGS tried to extend their lease, but they couldn\u2019t make it work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t fault them for that; they\u2019re doing their job, we\u2019re doing ours,\u201d Justice says. The staff is getting what she describes as a \u201clengthy severance,\u201d adding that \u201ceverybody\u2019s going to get a nice long paid vacation, myself included, and I think we all need and deserve that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

(HAGS\u2019s name works two-fold<\/a>: it stands for \u201cHave a Good Summer\u201d and references the word that Merriam-Webster describes as an \u201cevil-looking old woman.\u201d)<\/p>\n

The Noho restaurant is larger than the 20-seat East Village location, with about 60 to 70 seats. It\u2019ll serve an a la carte menu, as opposed to those tasting menus. There\u2019s also a full liquor license so they can serve cocktails. And don\u2019t worry: the pay-what-you-can Sunday brunch is staying.<\/p>\n

HAGS\u2019s pivot to a la carte is centered on snacky dishes. \u201cI\u2019m really excited about going even smaller and having these tiny, cute, dainty little bites that you can order by the piece and have little snack platters and cocktails and party and have a good time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Justice is particularly hyped about the tuna melt. \u201cIt\u2019s our HAGSification of a New York classic,\u201d she says, taking cues from White Castle sliders. It\u2019s a two-bite sandwich, made with rice brioche bread; confited tuna; a mess of crunchy vegetables like celery, fennel, Basque peppers; and American cheese made with coconut milk. She likes the idea of either ordering a platter for friends or eating a whole bunch by yourself.<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, when Justice and Lindsley opened<\/a> HAGS in the former original Momofuku Noodle Bar space<\/a>, they knew it would be too small. \u201cWe felt like ostensibly total nobodies in the scene, and we didn\u2019t expect anybody would really care about our project,\u201d Justice says. \u201cA small thing made sense to us, and we wanted to do a small thing. That was naive in a way.\u201d The following year, Justice won the James Beard Foundation\u2019s Young Chef award<\/a> .<\/p>\n

When looking for HAGS\u2019s second home, Justice and Lindsley\u2019s goal was to move onto the Bowery, and the Noho address fit the bill. Telly talks about the recent \u201crevitalization\u201d of the major street, pointing to places like the newly opened wine bar Crybaby<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool to join this community of projects that are reshaping the Bowery to be this cool thoroughfare again,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The neighborhood\u2019s deep-rooted history is appealing, too. \u201cThe cultural aspects and the ebbs and flows of New York City, the cultural aspects of a block really matter to us and imprint on the final document of the space,\u201d Justice says. \u201cIt dictates a lot about what the future of the business is and the identity of the business and how we want to integrate into the community surrounding it.\u201d She describes the new HAGS as \u201cleaning into this Bowery, jazz, punk, rock and roll, Great Jones art community<\/a> cinematic universe, so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Design-wise, \u201cthe words that we\u2019ve been using a lot with our current designer are \u2018acid culture\u2019 and \u2018psychedelic culture,\u2019 leaning into this \u201970s and \u201980s Bowery vibe,\u201d Justice says. The idea is to go harder than the softer look of the original HAGS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Justice talks about leaving the East Village like the team is graduating college. \u201cIt feels a lot like leaving your college dorm room,\u201d she says. \u201c I\u2019ll always have such beautiful memories of it, but I\u2019m spending these last couple of days in the space looking around and already experiencing the nostalgia of it and grieving it.\u201d<\/p>\n