You know when you visit a place that you want to be great, but it just lets you down?
This is NOT one of those times.
Veselka is a well known Ukrainian diner/restaurant in the East Village that has been heralded for everything form its cheeseburgers to its borscht to its huge dessert menu. With a no-reservations policy, wait times can be long, but on Memorial Day Sunday, there was nothing to worry about! Our party of 5 was seated in 15 minutes at a peak time of 11 am.
I love being in the city when everyone else is getting sand in their food at the beach.
I’m antisocial like that.
If you order a breakfast special(you can also order a brunch special, breakfast a la carte, a daily special, lunch or dinner items, and probably a partridge in a pear tree), you will recieive a tiny glass of orange juice.
Told you it was tiny. And it looks almost insulting next to the normal sized cup of coffee. Then you take a sip.
Wowee, zowee! This is a sweet, tart but not sour, and just LIGHTLY pulpy shot glass of juice. I felt healthier and more vibrant just with one sip.Is it just me, or have most restaurants been serving orange juice that tastes like battery acid? This was utterly fabulous, and sorry if I am waxing poetic about juice, but…well, I just don’t drink a lot of juice.
I know, I know…I don’t drink juice AND I’m antisocial. So shoot me.
2 Scrambled Eggs, Potato Pancake and Toast
This was just delightful. Delicately scrambled eggs, creamy but not watery, perfectly mild next to the vinegary, hot hit of Tabasco I added.
Standard wheat toast – good but nothing amazing.
But oh yeah. There was this:
Potato pancake. WHOA! I thought we made good latkes…and we do…but I tend to dislike restaurants’ versions, finding them too greasy or salty or mushy or…well, you get the pictures.
These passed the test with FLYING colors!
With a texture similar to McDonald’s hash browns, the exterior was well browned, with an thick crust that audibly crunched when my fork broke through it to the creamy, well peppered insides. This was everything that you want a potato dish to be, texturally and taste-wise.
Let’s put it this way…next time I am getting a plate.
I also sampled the excellent corned beef hash and garlicky kielbasa (Ukrainian sausage) that was peppery but not spicy. Perfect for breakfast.
You know what else is perfect for breakfast?
Carrot cake.
This frosting was a little sweet for my taste – I like a cream cheese frosting that is richer than it is sweet-but the cake was excellent. Moist, redolent of cinnamon and nutmeg and loaded with walnuts. A bit heavier on the icing and lighter on the sugar would have just catapulted it over the top.
Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake.
Yeah, this is basically as good as it looks.
3 layers (1 each)of white, milk and dark chocolate mousse, fluffy and sweet, over a deeply flavored dark chocolate cake base, slightly bitter to contrast with the mousse’s sweetness. The white mousse was the sweetest, the milk was luxuriously rich tasting and the dark was the most subdued, acting as a grounding flavor for the other mousses. Breakfast dessert…I could get into that.
And you should get yourself into Veselka. Good service, good prices, GREAT food! I will definitely be back for their pierogies and other Ukrainian specialties.
Aww, who am I kidding…I will be back to try the cheeseburger too.
Because it’s really great to find a place that lives up to the hype.
Oo yum! All of your eats look amazing. Veselka has been around forever but I have yet to try it, I hear they make a mean borscht;)
Thanks for putting up with my insane family over potato pancakes xo
LOVE Veselka and yes, a pierogie tasting is definitely in order. Also, the challah bread is pretty delish.
I also hate juice!!