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• by:
• Birchard, Tom

A cozy 24-hour Ukrainian coffee shop in New York’s East Village, Veselka has been a Gotham institution for more than 50 years. The perfect neighborhood restaurant, each year it sends over a half million locals and tourists home happy with its simple, delicious Ukrainian soul food. And now, with The Veselka Cookbook, the restaurant’s hungry fans can recreate the foods they’ve come to know and love anytime right at home. The over 120 recipes highlight all of Veselka’s Ukrainian favorites including their famous borscht, sweet potato pierogi, and grilled kielbasa —as well as their fabulously simple comfort foods, such as threebean chili, egg salad on challah, and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

Complete with personal stories and photos, a special Christmas Eve chapter, holiday menus, a glossary, and resources on where to buy ingredients, this comprehensive, delectable cookbook is sure to delight Veselka fans and Ukrainian foodies for many years to come.

Tom Birchard has worked at Veselka since 1967 and assumed ownership from his father-in-law in 1975. Veselka has grown steadily since and has expanded several times. Natalie Danforth is a freelance food writer who writes about cookbooks for Publishers Weekly. They live in New York City.