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The original Veselka is a fixture of the East Village, welcoming famous diners like Anthony Bourdain, Julianne Moore, Graham Nash, Paul Giamatti, and Adam Sandler, but you should know there’s no special treatment given to any diner over the other. It’s still the kind of place that’s for everyone. “We’re not the type to take a photo with a celebrity and put it on the walls,” says Birchard. “Everyone is treated the same at Veselka.”

That same hospitality can be found across the East River, too, at the newer outpost of Veselka (Williamsburg), established in 2024 and located at the corner of Lorimer and Meeker, just below the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in Brooklyn. The menu is nearly a carbon copy of the East Village location — though, the Brooklyn location has a full liquor license — with golden-fried latkes, borscht, super satisfying stuffed cabbage and many other Eastern European stalwarts, like beef stroganoff and chicken paprikash.

Birchard, now 58 years old, began working in the East Village Veselka as a teenager. In 2020, he took over the business from his father, Tom. Alongside his first cousin, Justin Birchard, who’s 20 years his junior, the pair aims to bring Veselka into its next era without forgetting the details that have made it a classic all these years.

So, with that, here’s a closer look at Veselka’s most popular dishes — the ones no first timer should overlook, and the ones regulars can never get enough of.

The post Veselka’s Delicious Legacy, in Five Iconic Dishes appeared first on Resy | Right This Way.