Veselka - I am waffling, i want blintzes

2 days ago, I went in to Veselka, located on 2 nd avenue at e. 9th st, and spoke with Jason, the grandson of the original owner. He gave me a business card and said i should email Tom. I emailed him with my proposition and he replied with "deal, when do you want to come in and we can start with breakfast," implying there would be a second visit.

In my email, i suggested i could write something like I'm not waffling - i want Veselka waffles (after eying the menu), but after meeting again with Jason, he strongly recommended the Blintzes with either raspberry or peach sauce. "We specialize in eastern european (particularly Ukrainian) dishes." he said. "We also serve pierogis stuffed with cabbage, potato pancakes... we're also well known for breakfast, large portions and brunch is busy... we make our own buttermilk and buckwheat pancake mix from scratch... we have fountain drinks like lime cherry rickey which is seltzer with lime juice and cherry syrup... we make our own soups like borscht... you can start with blintzes and then come back and try a combination plate," he suggested rather generously.

Ben, the cashier,explained that veselka means rainbow in Ukrainian. Kinga, my waitress, brought out blintzes (Ukrainian style crepes) with both the peach and raspberry sauce without me having to ask. I was being treated like a queen. They were stuffed with sweet farmer's cheese and topped with sour cream. The raspberry sauce complimented the blintzes exquisitely. I told one of the main cooks, Celso, that i thought the sauce was delicious and he said, " made it myself". "Did you ?" "It's easy, boil water and add sugar." Both sauces had chunks of fruit which i think is far better than a simple coulis.

The coffee was bottomless and the orange juice was fresh. I took a sticky bun to taste their breakfast pastry (I'll get back to you on it) and a coffee milkshake which was what i would expect from a coffee milkshake: not too thick and coffeeish - good.

Irena, the floor manager, pointed out that every day there are different specials and many customers come in for them. Also, they serve to serve certain dishes with seasonal ingredients, for example, blintzes with peach sauce. I asked her whether she was Ukrainian and she explained that no, she was Polish and that in fact there are many Polish and Ukrainian that work in the kitchen and in the front of the house, and there are similarities between Polish and Ukrainian cuisine.

Before i left, Kinga told me she loved the potato pierogies with arugula and goat cheese and sour cream. "You should try them".

Maybe i will.