Things probably haven’t changed much at the East Village’s Ukrainian Restaurant since this ad ran in the New York City phone book in 1976.
But that’s the way the people who run this old-school restaurant on Second Avenue seem to like it.
In business for 50-plus years, it’s a product of Little Ukraine, aka the Ukrainian community that settled in the East Village during and after World War II, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
Other holdouts for hearty pierogi, stuffed cabbage, and borsch in the East village include the legendary Veselka.
RIP Kiev; you are missed.
Tags: Kiev East Village, Little Ukraine East Village, Pierogi in New York City, Ukrainian East Village, Ukrainian Food New York, Ukrainian Restaurant Second Avenue
Ephemeral New York 
September 30, 2019 at 9:05 am |
In the 70s the Ukie community was still a decade behind the times, unable to accept the changes going on before them. The restaurant food may have been very tasty but their necktie view of life around them was out of whack. It took a generation to accept the changes around them but by then the Ukie community was being practically erased, by the wealthy stagnation that exists now. Ah but such is life… Read my Kindle novel to see the changes
September 30, 2019 at 2:15 pm |
Thanks Mick, I thought of you when I saw this old ad and decided to write something about it!
September 30, 2019 at 2:54 pm
My little book is the only time I wrote about the old community. Brought back memories. And 2.99 ain’t a bad price, eh?
September 30, 2019 at 11:09 am |
We still reminisce about the Kiev, it is so missed…but long live Veselka!
September 30, 2019 at 11:44 am |
Happy to report the restaurant is still there and apparently thriving. We ate there about two weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon and were the only ones in the room. By the time we left, it was PACKED! Very old-fashioned and we love it. So nice that SOMETHING from my childhood version of NYC still survives. But who knows for how much longer?
September 30, 2019 at 11:57 am |
back in the day, I would hit up Kiev’s after a punk show. Nothing like having a boiled pierogi after seeing The Ramones.
October 1, 2019 at 3:23 pm |
I hear that, Will. We went to Kiev’s to warm up after a set at Dan Lynch Blues Bar. Also miss Love Saves the Day which was across the street N/W corner 2nd and 7th.
September 30, 2019 at 12:06 pm |
When you sat down the waitress would slouch over, flip open her pad and look at you like you were one more stone piled on to the misery that is her life.
September 30, 2019 at 12:38 pm |
You guys missed the gem of a place in the East Village on 7th Street between 2nd Ave. and the Bowery called Streecha, which means meeting place in Ukrainian. Best pierogies/varenyky ever, knocks the others out of the water. Little old ladies make them fresh every day. It’s like a social thing sponsored by St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church across the street, to which some of the proceeds go. The prices are very reasonable and include such other Ukrainian staples such as stuffed cabbage, kielbasa with sauerkraut, borshcht, desserts, and a daily special. Streecha is located a few buildings east of McSorley’s Old Ale House, in the basement of a brownstone. You’ll recognize it by a blue sign with gold lettering (CTPIYA), the Y looks like an upside down turned around lower case h, which my iPad cannot approximate. You guys should go there for lunch, google them, and do a piece on them as a vanishing community stubbornly clinging to its old traditions and hanging on. Please let me know when you do, as I so enjoy your articles.
You should also do one on St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on 10 St. and Ave.A. It used to be a chapel of St. Marks in the Bowery Church that was bought by the Carpatho-Rusyn people (not Russians,Ukrainians, or other ethnicities this large & diasporic group was said to be a part of.). Long story. Had their own country, called Ruthenia, which lasted one day before the territory was annexed to Czechoslovakia, and then ripped apart by Poland, USSR/Ukraine, and Romania. Google them, both church and Carpatho-Rusyns for a fascinating read.
Sent from my iPad
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September 30, 2019 at 4:12 pm |
Sandra Dee was Carpatho-Rusyn I believe. Thanks for the tips about those eateries. I’ll have to try them sometime.
November 11, 2019 at 4:28 am |
[…] East Seventh Street is the heart of the East Village’s Little Ukraine, populated by Ukrainians who immigrated before the war as well as thousands who came after, displaced from their homes and resettled around Cooper Square. […]