The queer-owned fine dining restaurant in NYC’s East Village has a star amongst its team. Telly Justice, owner of HAGS, is a proud trans woman who has been working in the food industry for over a decade, serving customers delicious food and putting hospitality first.
Justice sat down with amNewYork and discussed her dream, how it has evolved into the restaurant the community sees today, and how it often gives back wherever possible, providing dishes at a reasonable price.
Although it can be overwhelming to have a publication recognize someone as the best new chef, Justice has taken the award as a testament to her team’s ambition and dedication, relating it back to how she first started in the industry.
“At this point in my career, I own a restaurant, I’m here every day. We have really high ambitions and distinct goals, and we spend a lot of time working as a team. I mentor a lot of really talented people that means the world to me,” Justice stated.
She also reminisced about receiving the call for the first time, which was something that she had always longed for, but that it wasn’t in her grasp at the moment. Her world is her restaurant, and this was apparent in the way she discusses the food, serves customers, and helps young chefs develop their skills.
However, she has never taken the time to step back and realize the significant impact she has had on the community and people around the country, who aspire to be just like her.
Between the sweet messages she receives from young queer chefs and her personal interactions with customers at her restaurant, her kindness spreads nationwide, especially with her exclusive “pay what you can” deal.
“We’re trying to create more of a comfort zone around, coming out to spaces and paying what you can, paying what you want, paying what you think you can afford, and just enjoying yourself with your community,” Justice said.
This kind of attitude that Justice carries is what makes HAGS unique, as the name itself suggests a fun environment.
Located in the East Village neighborhood, it’s a tiny and comforting area that will sure brighten up a visitor’s day, and as their website says, it’s “By Queer people for all People”.
Combining Justice’s and her life and business partner Camille Lindsley’s passion for music, they were able to make an organic transition from being on the road, to opening their first restaurant. Their love of food and passion for feeding people brought more joy to Justice, and also provided more stability for the future
New York almost didn’t end up with HAGS, as Justice talked about being on the road and doing gigs, which influenced her to decide to make New York City their home.
“I spent my cooking career and the majority of my adulthood in Atlanta, Georgia, and Camille was born and raised in Atlanta. So for a long time we expected that,” Justice started off.
While she says Atlanta will always be home for her, she developed a deeper and richer relationship with New York as they began hosting pop-ups before launching HAGS’ current iteration.
Slowly working from the edge of New York to immersing themselves in the NYC experience, COVID helped them become more than just “transplants” in the city. They began to understand the neighborhood and participate in the community.
“When we signed the lease for the brick and mortar and signed a 10-year lease, we had this moment of ‘This is it, like we’re choosing a home right now,” Justice explained.
This was their first time staying somewhere for 10 years, and now that she’s been running HAGS for three and a half years, she hopes that they can continue on in New York.
That doesn’t mean the HAGS dreams stop in New York, as she has plans to host pop-ups and events around the state to connect communities throughout New York.
“We have to dream of a bigger HAGS and what it can do for more people and outside these four walls. So the way we [Justice and Lindsley] think about it now, especially with this new Food and Wine best new chef accolade, is how do we keep taking the next step forward and how do we bring more people along with us on the road?”
While they explore different ideas for making HAGS country-wide and expanding their current restaurant to accommodate larger parties and support the ever-growing community they’ve garnered, Justice was able to dive deeper into a brief conversation as we discussed just how much the youth and other young queer chefs across the globe.
“One of the most endearing and heartwarming things we get to experience running HAGS is the messages we get from people elsewhere in the country that are like ‘we see what you’re doing and we wish somebody would do it here in my state, my country, my town… I think we’re all special people, no matter where we are in the world, and we all possess the qualities that it takes to do something like this project,” Justice discussed.
Through her tears and thinking about people across the globe, she has heard sweet words from, she expressed her excitement that she’s able to be a role model for everyone that comes after, as that it is something that the queer community is often missing.
She put it best as she continued on, “It just takes a spark and a push sometimes to build the confidence necessary to start building something for yourself.”
For more information, visit hagsnyc.com.
