The Ukrainian East Village Restaurant is reminiscent of what one could have encountered at a modest hotel for foreign travelers in Kiev some fifty years ago. Various similarities include the wooden paneling on the dining room walls, the plain tables, the no-nonsense service, as well as the cabinet that displays traditional gifts. Of course, the ubiquitous embroidery is de rigueur. While the doilies adorning the tables here are not hand-embroidered (as they would have been in Ukraine), they represent Ukrainian style interwoven with American, um, practicality. As if to underscore its Soviet-era setting, the dining room is hidden away in an unassuming rear corner of the Ukrainian National Home; its only window faces a rather dull and institutional interior corridor, the view of which is obstructed partially by the restaurant's pink-and-blue neon sign.
Tucked away in the back of the Ukrainian National Home
Perhaps the most significant characteristic of this community gathering place in "Little Ukraine" is its palpable sense of authenticity. The kitchen serves up well-prepared, real home cooking. We tried the Ukrainian Combination Platter, a hearty and satisfying assortment of old-world comfort food: Holubets (stuffed cabbage), Varenyky (dumplings, more widely known as pierogi), Kovbasa (sausage), Sauerkraut or Kasha (toasted hulled buckwheat) Varnishkes (bow-tie pasta or farfalle), and a small salad.
Clockwise (from top): Holubets, Kovbasa, Varenyky, Sauerkraut
Clockwise (from top): Kovbasa, Kasha Varnishkes, Holubets, Varenyky
The holubets with mushroom sauce was particularly delicate.
Holubets (stuffed cabbage) with mushroom sauce
Varenyk (dumpling) with onions
When the pandemic struck New York, the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant suspended operations for a year, though it continued to pay rent. The venerable eatery reopened in May 2021, and, since the start of the Russian invasion, has seen its sales increase by 60 percent. It donates a portion of its sales revenue to fund humanitarian aid in Ukraine through Razom, a nonprofit organization situated upstairs from the restaurant.
Ukrainian East Village Restaurant
140 Second Avenue (between E. 9th Street & St. Marks Place)
(Little Ukraine, East Village)
New York, N.Y. 10003-8364 (map)
(212) 614-3283
https://ukrainianevr.wixsite.com/ukrainian-east-villa
https://www.facebook.com/ukrainianeastvillage/
By train: to Astor Pl
By bus: M8, M15 SBS, M101, M102, M103
Comestiblab: The Ukrainian word for stuffed cabbage is holubets (singular) or holubtsi (plural)—literally, "little dove(s)."
Comestiblab: The colors of the Ukrainian flag represent a sky of blue above a field of wheat.
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