HAGS, a “queer fine dining destination” that closed after a two-month run, will return this month. The East Village restaurant reopens on December 30 with a rejiggered menu that focuses on vegan and vegetarian cooking, according to a spokesperson. The restaurant, which opened this summer with a four-course “omnivore” menu priced at $155 per person, will now serve meat as an optional supplement to its dinners. Reservations open on Resy on December 16, and management will reach out to customers who had planned to dine at the restaurant before it closed to give them priority booking.
Is Rome’s Roscioli coming to town?
There’s a good chance that a branch of Rome’s fan-favorite Roscioli, a must-see food stop in the center of the city that includes a bakery, salumeria, caffe, and wine spot, is opening in Manhattan. Sources close to the deal say that the restaurant’s wine-and-food offshoot Rimessa Roscioli is headed our way. Gaetano Saccoccio, co-founder of Rimessa, confirms he’s early in the process of opening a New York City outpost — and a contract hasn’t yet been signed. The restaurant is in talks to open in a Greenwich Village spot that has yet to announce its closure, according to multiple sources. — Melissa McCart, editor
A Bushwick nightclub will return on New Year’s Eve
Rash, a Bushwick nightclub that closed earlier this year after an arsonist set flame to the bar, will return on December 31. The club teased a reopening date in an Instagram post this weekend, adding that the New Year’s Eve event will take place at another location to be announced this week. The news comes roughly eight months after John Lhota was charged with deliberately setting fire to the space, injuring two employees, and completely destroying its interior. More details on the permanent reopening are coming soon.
Pastry stars unite for a Bed-Stuy doughnut series
Bed-Stuy bakery Fan Fan Doughnuts is partnering with some of the city’s top pastry talent for a two-week collaboration leading up to New Year’s, according to a spokesperson. Each day between December 15 and 31, the shop will showcase a different doughnut whose recipe comes from chefs at Mah-Ze-Dahr, Lysée, Kora, and other bakeries. Cookbook authors Jesse Szewicyz (Cookies: The New Classics) and Bryan Ford (New World Sourdough) will also make doughnuts for the series. A box of all 13 flavors is available for $75.