Posted by Nick Solares, November 20, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Having to review a burger a week is both an honor and a privilege, but it also means that I am not necessarily eating for pleasure. Such was not the case two nights ago when I ventured back to Veselka for a late night bite. Since I am off to the UK today, I thought a burger might make a good send off meal—I could not have chosen a better place to get it than Veselka.
The burger, which I should note (before he sends of irate missives to the management) is one of Josh "Mr Cutlets" Ozersky's favorites, and is, as I reported back in August, "balanced in all parameters—texture, size, flavor." My enthusiasm has only grown since this recent burger; it was even juicer and more flavorful than when I last ate it. Just look at the torrents of juices that emanated from the patty! In fact, as I type this I can think of nothing else. Now that is the sign of a great burger. Bravo, Veselka: You have not rested on your laurels—the burger is better than ever.
Veselka
144 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003 (at 2nd Ave; map)
212-228-9682 veselka.com
AHT/Serious Eats's own Robyn Lee took this photo. It's the most beautiful photo of a Veselka cheeseburger I've ever seen. It's one of the most beautiful photos of any burger I've ever seen.
Ever see Weird Science? I want to hook up some electrodes and jumper cables to my computer and make this thing a reality IN MY HOUSE NOW.
Posted by Nick Solares, August 7, 2008 at 12:20 PM
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for another review from Nick Solares. Nick is also the publisher of Beef Aficionado, his blog that explores beef beyond burgerdom.
Veselka
144 Second Avenue, New York NY 10003 (at 9th Street; map); 212-228-9682; veselka.com The Short Order: Grilled, eight-ounce burgers are perfectly balanced, beefy, and smokey. An unexpectedly well-crafted burger from a joint better known for Eastern European dishes Want Fries with That? The skin-on fries that accompany the deluxe burger are tasty, with a crisp, crunchy exterior. I didn't request it, but they came out well-done, which I prefer Price: Cheeseburger, $6.50; cheeseburger deluxe, $8.25
Tom Birchard is a passionate burger man, which is curious, considering that he owns Veselka, the East Village Ukranian restaurant. You might not expect to find a great hamburger in a place better known for borscht, kielbasa, and pierogies. But just as Veselka has evolved from a small corner newspaper stand to the restaurant it is today, so too has the burger, reaching its current state through what Birchard describes as "a lot of trial and error."
The story of Veselka ("rainbow" in Ukranian), is one of those quintessentially American tales. Wolodymyr Darmochwal and his family fled Ukraine in the wake of WWII, surviving a German refugee camp and arriving in the U.S. in 1944. Within a decade he was able to open a small newsstand on the corner of Second Avenue and 9th Street in the East Village. By 1962 Veselka subsumed the neighboring luncheonette and started serving Ukrainian comfort food. By 1996 it had expanded further east taking over another adjoining space and creating the open restaurant of today.
Veselka is one of the last of the Slavic restaurants that once proliferated in the East Village. Other neighborhoods had the diner, with a generic "American" menu as the budget mainstay of choice, but the East Village had such venerable institutions as Leshko's and Kiev, all serving up a distinctive Eastern European menu. While there remain a couple of greasy spoon Slavic joints further up Second Avenue, Veselka is the most venerable restaurant of its type left. It is heartening that, in a city increasingly being taken over by chain stores, Veselka is still run by the same family. Birchard is Darmochwal's son-in-law, and both of Birchard's sons, Jason and Todd, work there. Even the founder's son, Mykola Darmochwal, is still involved, having recently rationalized the accounting and computer systems.
Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky, editor of New York magazine's Grub Street and author of upcoming book The Hamburger: A History, says you can find the perfect burger at Veselka, in New York City's East Village:
VESELKA
Address: 144 Second Avenue, New York NY 10003 Phone: 212-228-9682 Website:veselka.com
Veselka is one of the last of the Slavic restaurants that once proliferated in the East Village. Other neighborhoods had the diner, with a generic "American" menu as the budget mainstay of choice, but the East Village had such venerable institutions as Leshko's and Kiev, all serving up a distinctive Eastern European menu. While there remain a couple of greasy spoon Slavic joints further up Second Avenue, Veselka is the most venerable restaurant of its type left. It is heartening that, in a city increasingly being taken over by chain stores, Veselka is still run by the same family. Birchard is Darmochwal's son-in-law, and both of Birchard's sons, Jason and Todd, work there. Even the founder's son, Mykola Darmochwal, is still involved, having recently rationalized the accounting and computer systems.
