HAGS
Fine dining restaurant · East Village ·
Vegan, gluten-free, and omnivore tasting menus with wine pairings
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Vegan, gluten-free, and omnivore tasting menus with wine pairings
"For New Year’s Eve, the queer-owned East Village fine dining restaurant transforms into HOGS, a self-described drag steakhouse where “maximalist camp meets elevated dining.” A five-course menu offers omnivore and vegan options—the former with a seafood sampler, grits aligot, and prime rib; the latter with roasted tempeh, truffled grits, and tofu—with dinner priced at $180 and optional $100 wine and Champagne pairings. Seatings are at 6:30 and 9 p.m. on Wednesday, December 31." - Nadia Chaudhury
"In the East Village, I find Hags to be a tiny, deeply personal spot that — while not entirely vegetarian — offers one of the most thoughtful vegan tasting menus in town. Opened in 2022 by partners Telly Justice and Camille Lindsley (who runs wine and front of house), it offers two versions of an ever-changing seven-course tasting menu: vegan and omnivore. Expect Carolina gold rice brioche topped with tomato butter, squash with the creamiest grits, an exceptional iteration of tempeh, and two dessert courses paired by a considered non-alcoholic program; the room is intimate and joyfully inclusive, complete with optional pronoun pins on the table." - Kyle Beechey
"Run by Telly Justice and Camille Lindsley, the 18-seat HAGS in Manhattan’s East Village feels like a cuddle of a room — softly pink, banquette-lined, and decked in riotous floral displays studded with 3D-printed ice cream cones, a Michelin Young Chef Award and a black skull nestled in the petals, and even a labeled jar of fentanyl test strips in the bathroom beside a funhouse mirror. Wednesday through Saturday nights they serve an inventive, hyperseasonal, and almost completely gluten-free tasting menu that exists in joyous omnivore and plant-based forms (reflecting Justice’s roots in vegan cafés), paired with an eternally curious wine list emphasizing queer-owned brands and abundant nonalcoholic options; the vegan tasting menu includes smoked, locally made tempeh with marinated and roasted eggplant and crispy fig leaves. Sunday brunch operates on a pay-what-you-may sliding scale with the same lovingly plated menu — think a cornbread French toast with roasted-blueberry butter and vanilla crème anglaise, mushroom grits with preserved mushrooms, mushroom mousse, chestnut mushrooms, and truffles, seasonally rotating cinnamon rolls (tender, fluffy, sometimes strawberry hibiscus or even glittered vegan varieties), and a signature poached leeks dish wrapped with kohlrabi, cacao-nib chile crisp, red onion–fermented coconut soubise, nasturtiums, and confit egg yolk. I appreciate how hospitality is central here — hugs at the host stand, welcoming trans women and people who are newly out or financially insecure without asking why — and that they even share recipes (like the ramp pancake and huitlacoche puree) on a public Google Drive, an experiment in “building a pirate ship” that sails specifically for the people it’s for." - Kat Kinsman
"Offering omnivore and vegan and six-course tasting menus, Hags is an ongoing experiment in queer fine dining. Every meal feels like a party, and the food is as whimsical as the design elements that go into the space." - Eater Staff
"Hags is a tiny East Village spot that's billed as an American fine dining restaurant “by queer people, for all people.” The food on the six-course tasting menu is satisfying, and you may find deliciously daring experimental dishes like uni with sour cream and onion, a foot-long hot dog, or a Pringle made of carrot. But the food is also almost besides the point. What is central here is a sense of community and belonging. Be sure to check out the funhouse mirror—an interactive metaphor for gender dysmorphia—in the bathroom." - kenny yang, carina finn koeppicus, bryan kim, neha talreja, nikko duren, hannah albertine
