More soup, er, borscht, for you!
Legendary East Village diner Veselka, which has dished out Ukrainian comfort food like borscht and pierogies for nearly 70 years, is planning to open an outpost in Williamsburg and a kiosk at Grand Central Station, Side Dish has learned.
The expected expansion comes amid an outpouring of support for Veselka, which implies “rainbow” in Ukrainian, because the brutal war instigated by Russia against its eastern European neighbor enters its second 12 months.
The Second Avenue mainstay has been an unofficial meeting ground for organizing aid – including food, medical supplies and money – to the war-torn country and providing sanctuary for refugees. Veselka has also donated 100% of sales of its famous borscht in the course of the first 12 months of the war to Ukraine – raising $300,000.
“I’m just hoping for the perfect, and know in my heart that I’ll proceed to do what I can to assist Ukrainians, my fellow brothers and sisters,” said Jason Birchard, Veselka’s owner and the son of Tom Birchard, who took over from his then-father-in-law Wolodymr Darmochwal. “My staff could be very motivated. I couldn’t do that without their exertions. About 50% of them are Ukrainian.”
Birchard is in talks to open a 5,000 square-foot location in Williamsburg by the top of the 12 months with a much bigger commissary kitchen, he said. The present East Village location is 4,500 square feet, with 70 seats inside and around 50 seats outside, whether permitting.
“We would have liked an area that may very well be a hybrid kitchen and restaurant to cope with the pent-up demand of the last 12 months, which has shown that folks love Veselka, and we’re incredibly appreciative and wish to satisfy the demand that’s there,” said Justin Birchard, Jason’s cousin and Veselka’s director of development.
The Grand Central annex, also slated to open later this 12 months, can be just like Veselka’s Lower East Side kiosk at Essex Crossing, which launched in 2018.
Once the Williamsburg location launches, the East Village spot which opened in 1954 will close for some needed renovations, including expanding the kitchen.
“It’s time,” Justin Birchard said. “We haven’t renovated in 30 years. But we aren’t leaving. We’re staying so long as the owner could have us.”
One other thing Veselka hopes to reestablish soon is 24/7 dining, which was discontinued in the course of the pandemic.
“My staff could be very motivated. I couldn’t do that without their exertions. About 50% of them are Ukrainian,” Jason Birchard said. Stefano Giovannini
“I used to like going there to eat late after an evening out back within the day,” said Jason Lloyd, now a father of three and a broker on the firm Mona who’s repping Veselka in negotiations for the Williamsburg space. “So many individuals have memories of late-night dining here.”
Veselka’s traditional menu that features stuffed cabbage, veal goulash and beef stroganoff has recently earned it a nomination for the James Beard Award’s outstanding restaurant.
However it’s the business of comforting the Ukrainian community, which extends from the East Village to across the tri-state area and nationally, that has generated much of the great will.
The restaurant has sponsored work visas for Ukrainians who fled to Latest York, where many landed at Veselka to work alongside their relatives, said Jason Birchard. It also has teamed with the Ukrainian non-profit Razom for Ukraine, a human rights organization, and other groups.
Veselka’s famed Borscht beet soupStefano Giovannini
As a part of a latest fund-raising drive, Veselka is partnering with Michael Dorf’s City Winery to donate sales of a $10 cabernet – on tap from a barrel painted the blue-and-yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag – via Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, said Jason Birchard.
“I would like to boost $500,000 for Ukraine this 12 months,” added Birchard, who serves on the advisory board of Ukrainian Habitat Funds. “As considered one of the oldest Ukrainian businesses in Latest York, we’re blessed to have a lot support, and to find a way to support Ukraine as well.”
And there could also be latest neighborhoods to overcome in the long run. The West Village could also be next, Lloyd hinted.
Veselka employees Ira and Yulia.Stefano Giovannini
“It is a well deserved expansion for Veselka. It’s an amazing Latest York brand. I hope Second Avenue (the unique location) can be open 24/7 again and that aspect of Latest York dining comes back — when people leave the bar to go get food because the sun rises,” Lloyd said.
We hear exclusively…that Cathédrale is partnering with the IFC Center and Janus Movies to have fun the thirty fifth anniversary of “Babette’s Feast,” the Oscar-winning cult classic Danish foodie film, The IFC will show the film, hailed by the late Anthony Bourdain as considered one of the all-time food classics, from March 22=29.
On the ultimate night, Cathédrale will offer a re-creation of the film’s famous feast: a four-course, candle-lit meal by Chef Jason Hall and directed by Tao Group Hospitality’s chief culinary officer Ralph Scamardella. The fee is $150 per person, plus wine and libations pairings.
The film culminates with a spectacular feast from a French refugee that features turtle soup for 2 spinster daughters of a pastor in a pious, nineteenth century Danish town.
“It was crucial to stay faithful to the classics, and never veer off into reinventing or adding personal touches,” said Hall, adding that the turtle soup was sourced from Philadelphia’s Samuels Seafood Company, with farm raised, freshwater, soft-shell turtles and that a fake turtle soup will even be served.
Quail in puff pastry-shell with foie gras and black-truffle sauce.
Tao Group Hospitality
Buckwheat pancakes with caviar and sour cream
Tao Group Hospitality
Commercial
Rum sponge cake with figs and candied cherries
Tao Group Hospitality
Commercial
“By offering guests the chance to experience classics from a unique era, the restaurant goals to evoke a way of nostalgia and appreciation for the normal French cuisine that’s served in Babette’s Feast,” Hall said.
The opposite dishes include blinis with caviar and sour cream, quail in puff pastry with foie gras and black truffle sauce, and rum sponge cake with figs and candied cherries.
Matt Strauss, senior vice chairman of corporate development for Tao Group Hospitality, said the thought for the dinner got here in the course of the pandemic as he texted forwards and backwards with Chef Hall.
“I loved the film when it got here out and it hits otherwise wherever you might be in your life,” Strauss said. “An amazing meal brings everyone together.”
He added that he sourced a few of the wines at auction, and that “authenticity” for your complete experience is vital.
Because the late Bourdain once said in regards to the film, “You need to eat that food. It captures the actual pleasures of sitting at a table, a bit of bit drunk on good wine, eating incredible food. They simply got it right.”
We hear…that the twenty fifth Annual Sunday Supper — from Chef Daniel Boulud and Citymeals on Wheels — raised $1 million. Mayor Eric Adams and Citymeals on Wheels CEO Beth Shapiro attended.
Guest chefs included Aaron Bludorn (Bludorn in Houston), Esther Ha (Momofuku Ko in Latest York) and Travis Swikard (Callie in San Diego) — who all began their careers under Boulud’s mentorship. Joining them was French Chef Eric Canino (La Voile, Ramatuelle in Saint Tropez, France.)
