BINGHAMTON — Taste of Europe, a Binghamton restaurant serving Ukrainian, Slovakian, and American cuisine, held its grand reopening ceremony at its new, larger — and newly renovated — location at 440 Court St. on Jan. 21. The restaurant first reopened for patrons at the new location last Sept. 17, just in time for Binghamton […]
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The restaurant first reopened for patrons at the new location last Sept. 17, just in time for Binghamton Restaurant Week. Owner Igor Shelestovsky and manager Kirsten Juhl say that was the plan to help boost turnout. “We were going to do what I call a soft opening,” before the official grand reopening, says Juhl, “but it wasn’t soft, we were actually pretty busy that week.”
The restaurant had been closed for about a year as the current building (a former Arby’s sandwich shop) was being overhauled. Shelestovsky himself did much of the renovating. It’s a decision that he estimates saved him between $20,000 and $40,000 over hiring outside contractors. He even worked in the unheated building during the winter months, according to Juhl.
The strong turnout after the not-so-soft opening was good news for the relatively young restaurant after coming off a one-year hiatus. Shelestovsky says he had been looking for a new location for a while. When he found the current property, Shelestovsky took out $60,000 in loans from First Niagara Bank, and borrowed another $40,000 from generous friends, for the move and renovations. He is leasing the space from the building’s owner, Elsayed Mohamed, who is also in the restaurant business.
Taste of Europe first opened in June 2011, in downtown Binghamton at 56 Court St., in a building Shelestovsky described as old, dirty, and in poor shape. “We had four tables there,” he says, and fewer than 1,000 square feet of space.
Juhl says Taste of Europe can seat about 45 in its current building, which is more than 2,500 square feet, although it has been given a 110 seat-capacity by the fire marshal’s office. The expanded size has brought in more revenue than the roughly $2,000 generated each week at the old location, says Shelestovsky, but he would like to see more growth and more consistency. At this point, he’s seeking to bring in between $1,200 and $1,500 each day. “I just want to be able to cover expenses.”
Business has slowed in recent weeks, though. “It was real busy for a while,” says Juhl. “We’re in a dip right now, but that happens this time of year” because people are recouping from holiday spending.
Shelestovsky isn’t making any excuses, though. He says he always hears that winter isn’t a good season for restaurants, “but I see people going out,” he says. “I think that one problem is still that not a lot of people know about us.” He says the staff is sending out flyers and using social media to give the restaurant more exposure. Overall, Juhl says she thinks the restaurant is doing pretty well.
The owner
Shelestovsky emigrated from Ukraine at age 36 with his wife, Olga, and four children in 1999 (they have five kids now). Work in Ukraine, he says, was varied and inconsistent. “Whatever you could make some money [on], you would just go and do it,” he says.
The family came to Binghamton because he had relatives in the area, he says. Shelestovsky found work as a bus driver for the Binghamton City School District, before moving laterally to Broome County Transit more than 10 years ago. He has been a full-time bus driver there ever since.
Because of work, he is only able to spend between one and two hours at the restaurant each weekday (on Saturdays, he is there all day.) “Just trying not to be in the way of the people who are working,” he says. “I’m trying to make sure … that everything is going as it should, that everything is not changing,” especially the quality of the food.
The idea of opening a restaurant came from Olga Shelestovsky, his wife, whose recipes are used for all of the Ukrainian and Slovakian dishes that she teaches to the cooks. Igor Shelestovsky says he needed some convincing. And, fewer than two and a half years after giving in and opening Taste of Europe, he closed its doors in the fall of 2013 as the switch to a bigger space began.
“This property was abandoned for a while. We did a little to fix the landscaping, but I want to do more,” says Shelestovsky. “I want to change more of the shape from the outside. I want to give more of [an] old country experience when you see it.”
He also would like to hire more people, which Juhl says she is working on. She is the only full-time employee, with between 10 and 15 part-timers filling all other positions. Shelestovsky says he also wants to raise everyone’s pay. “My goal is so that I will be able pay them at least $14 to $15 an hour.” Several of his employees currently earn minimum wage, he says.
Taste of Europe recently expanded its hours to include breakfast (mostly American items, says Juhl, with some quiches as well) and opening on Sundays. The eatery also expanded its lunch and dinner menus.