A visit to Veselka, as the East Village institution celebrates 70 years and another week for its documentary at the Village East

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

It's late Tuesday afternoon, and there's a noticeable energy at Veselka, the 70-year-old East Village institution on the SE corner of Second Avenue and Ninth Street.

Tom and Jason Birchard, the second and third-generation owners of the Ukrainian restaurant, are amid a media whirlwind. They are in high demand to discuss the newly released documentary, "Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World," directed by longtime patron Michael Fiore, which looks at how the war in Ukraine impacts the family and staff here.

The must-see film opened last Friday three blocks up Second Avenue at the Village East by Angelika. And the Birchards have just heard the news that the film will be held over for a second week here. (The documentary is also playing in several other markets, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.)

There are still traces of makeup on Tom's face and neck from a TV interview as we sit down to chat. However, between longtime customers coming up to congratulate him on the film and listening to the fascinating stories of Veselka from "back in the day," it's challenging to keep the interview on track.

You likely know Tom's journey. He began his career here in 1967, working alongside his father-in-law, founder Volodymyr Darmochwal. In 1975, he took the reins, steering Veselka through decades of change and growth. His son Jason carries on this legacy, taking over the ownership just before the pandemic. (The film provides a concise yet compelling history of Veselka, which means rainbow in Ukrainian.)

I thought I might just be doing a quick Q&A with Tom, but soon, I'm on a grand tour with Jason (below left) and Vitalii Desiatnychenko, Veselka's director of operations (right), whose family story figures heavily in the documentary's heartfelt narrative. 

We'll get to the rest of the tour later in this post.

For now, I settle back to enjoy hearing some Veselka-related stories about classic East Village figures, like La MaMa founder Ellen Stewart getting invited into the "inner sanctum" Ukrainian Blue Room and 2nd Avenue Deli owner Abe Lebewohl and his generosity in feeding the community (the Birchard family clearly follows that precedent by being active in charitable concerns in the neighborhood). 

We also share our own experiences with Veselka. I shame-facedly admit that I stole a plastic Veselka coffee mug as a teenager. Thankfully, I'm offered absolution ("You've confessed; now eat 10 pierogies, and all is forgiven," Tom offers). Now, for-sale ceramic versions of those mugs (plus plates and bowls) are available. Jason tells me new merchandise will be added soon, including an old-fashioned original-logo tote bag for the 70th anniversary and a throwback T-shirt. 

Talk turns to the war and its impact on the community both here and in Ukraine. Jason tells me that this past Saturday, CNN was at the restaurant doing a feature on the second anniversary of the start of the conflict when they cut to Chief International Anchor Christiana Amanpour interviewing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Veselka has become a focal point when discussing the war in this neighborhood with a large population of Ukrainians. Through Jason and the staff's tireless efforts — along with the generosity of the local community — the restaurant has raised $600,000 for the resistance with borscht sales, blue-and-yellow cookies, and supply drives.

I'd learned much of this from covering the news locally in the past two years but also from the documentary I watched a few nights earlier at the Village East. Jason tells me he's donating the net proceeds from the film to Razom for Ukraine. 

Here are some Q&A highlights from my conversation.

How does it feel to have the film extended for another week?

Tom: We're on cloud nine. We hope a steaming service will pick this up so we've got a larger distribution. We're hoping in our own small way to influence the war's positive outcome and reenergize American support. The response has been really gratifying…my mailbox is flooded.

How did it feel to watch the film?

Jason: It's hard to see myself. I'm a very private person, and I think Tom would state the same. It was initially going to be a short documentary as an homage to my father and all the years he spent here. And then it turned into a lot more. We didn't know there was going to be a pandemic, we didn't know there was going to be a war — we started the film before all of that. 

David Duchovny is the film's narrator. What is some of his history with Veselka?

Tom: David grew up on 11th Street and Second Avenue. David's mom was a client of my wife [former St. Mark's Veterinary Hospital vet Sally Haddock Birchard]. My wife came home one day and said, "Oh, I met this really nice lady. She lives on Second Avenue. She's really concerned about her son, who's pursuing an academic career at Princeton, but now, all of a sudden, he wants to go to Hollywood. She's worried sick about him." It turns out that was David Duchovny. 

About 20 years ago, a location scout approached me and said a Hollywood director wanted to shoot a film ["Trust the Man"] scene with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup…and David, too. Well, I said we would do it because of the connection between his mom and my wife. When I finally agreed to let them shoot the film, they all came, and the director, Bart Freundlich [married to Julianne Moore], took me aside and said, 'Thank you so much for letting me shoot this here. The scene is crucial in this film.'"

Was there anything from the film that didn’t make the cut you wish had?

Jason: The film director, Michael Fiore, had interviewed many of our key people here, including a woman that we called the Queen of Borscht. She had been eating here for 30-plus years. We also sat down with employees. We did little in-depth interviews that I wish would have made it. I mean, the movie could be a lot longer! 

We also had some celebrities, like Liev Schreiber, and some Ukrainian boxers who weren't very comfortable around the cameras. So, a lot of that footage didn’t make the final cut.

Following the conversation, we take a walk around Veselka. After a warning that "it's a working kitchen, it's not pretty," we descend the steps to the restaurant's lower level ...

Upstairs, in an alcove just above the dining room, is the small Veselka office, as seen several times in the film...

I also meet Dima Prach, a line cook whose family story is part of the documentary.

He was able to bring his mother and aunt (twins, seen below) over from Ukraine thanks to Jason's sponsorship. They both now work at Veselka.

At the end of our conversation, Tom grabs his bike for the short ride home. For those wondering about Veselka's future, "The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World" ends with a cute scene showing that the restaurant may very likely continue to stay in the Birchard family for another generation and continue the tradition.

You can visit the Village East website here for showtimes and ticket info. You can follow the film's Instagram account for updates.