Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the now closed Olesya’s Kitchen on McKinley Avenue in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, May 5, 2022. Olesya’s Kitchen closed recently after Cummins purchased the block the restaurant is located on. Olesya Whitfield, owner of the restaurant, is currently planning to re-open in a new location.
A local restaurant is looking for a new location — a move that has been made possible by a groundswell of community support.
Olesya’s Kitchen, which serves international dishes, had to vacate its previous building — located at 1531 McKinley Avenue — as the lot was purchased by Cummins, Inc. That location is now closed, said owner Olesya Whitfield.
Whitfield and her longtime friend Alena McCarron are still looking for a new location. McCarron has helped Whitfield with business paperwork in the past and is working to help Whitfield find a new location.
The two women had hoped to lease and renovate a space at Eastbrook Plaza but decided against it after having a lawyer look over the location’s paperwork.
Despite that setback, they still hope to reopen Olesya’s Kitchen somewhere in Columbus and are grateful for the community support they’ve received.
“A lot of people are waiting, and people are asking, ‘When is she going to open?” said McCarron.
“Everybody’s waiting,” Whitfield said. “Everybody. And I don’t want to close my business.”
One of Whitfield’s friends and regulars, Lynn Marie Reese, created a GoFundMe campaign in January to help the restaurant relocate. As of May 3, the campaign had raised a little over $9,000.
Additionally, some people brought donations straight to the restaurant.
“She had people just stop by and actually giving her personal checks just to help her out, people she doesn’t even know,” said McCarron.
“Without community help, I don’t think we’re going to make it,” said Whitfield.
Reese said Whitfield moved from Ukraine 22 years ago in hopes of a better life in America and with a goal of introducing authentic homemade Ukrainian food to Columbus, including Hungarian goulash, soups such as Ukrainian borscht and desserts such as honey cake and baklava, Her number one sales items are her chicken stroganoff and pork meatballs.
“This is no big chain restaurant. There is nothing frozen and ready to be just heated. Everything is homemade from her heart and soul,” Reese wrote on the GoFundMe page.
”Trust me when you come and meet her in her little restaurant you will understand why it’s so easy just to sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and talk for hours. It’s not just the food, it’s her atmosphere and it’s everything about her,” Reese wrote.
