I’m on a hunger-inducing tour of Veselka’s kitchen at the venerable Ukrainian restaurant’s new outpost in Brooklyn. Massive pots of purple borscht are simmering, sizzling potato pancakes come fresh out of the fryer. Would I like to try some plump Pestrogi, the brand’s pastrami-stuffed-pierogi collaboration with Katz’s Deli? Don’t mind if I do. “But this time of year, you can’t go wrong with borscht,” proprietor Jason Birchard tells me as New York bakes in a heat wave outside.
“I think they bring a lot of life to the building,” Birchard tells me. “The entire buildout was a big investment.” As a Williamsburg resident myself, it’s a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Sure it’s now technically a mini-chain, but it’s not often a business is built with passion from the ground up. In tandem with their new location, a documentary encapsulating Veselka’s culture was released earlier this year to mark its anniversary.