Manhattan’s Legendary Ukrainian Diner Veselka Is Opening in Brooklyn

The East Village’s legendary Ukrainian diner Veselka will open two more locations this year. The team is in talks to open a 5,000-square-foot outpost in Williamsburg by the end of the year, the New York Post reports. (The original East Village location is 4,500 square feet.) An additional outpost of the diner is planned for later this year at Grand Central Station that would be similar to its stall at the The Market Line food hall on the Lower East Side. Once the Williamsburg outpost is up and running, the East Village location of Veselka, which opened in 1954, will temporarily close for renovations that include expanding its kitchen, per the Post.

Signs of life at the city’s first Raising Cane’s

Signage is up on New York’s first location of Raising Cane’s, EV Grieve reports. The Louisiana-based chicken fingers chain signed a 20-year lease for a space at 10 Astor Place, at Lafayette Street, in the East Village last year, but not much has been heard since. The company has a separate flagship location planned for Broadway and West 44th Street in Times Square that’s slated to open this spring.

Workers to protest Vin Sur Vingt wine bar

Former employees of Manhattan wine bar Casellula, which closed following a change in ownership last fall, are protesting against the new owner over allegations of unfair tipping practices and illegal firings. While workers say that Rakesh Chandiramani, owner of the Vin Sur Vingt chain of wine bars, disbanded Casellula’s practice of offering employees a full minimum wage plus tips when he took over, then fired its employees after they organized in support of tip sharing, a spokesperson for Chandiramani claims the layoffs happened before he took over at the bar. He also says Vin Sur Vingt no longer owns the lease on the space. The demonstration takes place today at 3:30 p.m. outside of Vin Sur Vingt at 1140 Broadway, at West 26th Street.

Shake Shack to return to Penn Station

Shake Shack will return to Penn Station some three years after it was booted from the Long Island Rail Road concourse to make room for station renovations, Commercial Observer reports. The international burger chain has signed a lease for a 3,380-square-foot space with no reported opening date.