Queer Fine Dining Restaurant HAGS to Temporarily Close Two Months After Opening

Roughly two months after opening, Manhattan’s first queer fine-dining restaurant will temporarily close its doors. Telly Justice and Camille Lindsley, owners of HAGS, say in a statement to Eater that the restaurant has closed for the “foreseeable future” due to “inherited, unsafe structural damage and plumbing issues” in their basement. The repairs could take weeks or months to complete, according to a spokesperson, and the team is planning to stay busy with a series of pop-ups and residencies to be announced. “Send us speedy vibes!” they write.

More than 200 street vendors march on City Hall

Some 200 street vendors marched to City Hall on Thursday to demand more equity in the city’s vending industry. Signs written in Spanish, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, and English called on city officials to create more legal locations for vending, end police enforcement of street vending, and increase access to permits and licenses that allow vendors to operate legally, among other demands. Protesters were joined by City Council Members Shekar Krishnan, Christopher Marte, Sandy Nurse, and Shahana Hanif.

Foie gras dumplings rear their head at a pop-up

Anita Lo, the chef behind the West Village restaurant Anissa, is headed to the Michelin-starred Musket Room next month as part of a one-night pop-up. Her five-course menu, priced at $250 per person, includes sake pairings and the chef’s popular foie gras dumplings from her former restaurant. Musket Room pastry chef Camari Mick is supplying dessert.

Smashburger cashes in on city’s smash burger wave

Smashburger, the international burger chain with a handful of locations across the city, is now open at 804 Lexington Avenue, at East 62nd Street. The Upper East Side outpost is the company’s second restaurant in the country with a full-service bar, following a similar concept opening in Denver earlier this year, according to a press release. There are beers on draft, more than one cocktail with “smash” in its name, and burgers not quite as good as those sold at the handful of independent smash burger purveyors across the city.