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.)
