GUSI Opened in Greenwich Village on Friday, May 8, 2026
A Two-Storey Restaurant & Bar Where Eastern European Heritage Meets Mediterranean Influence
Opening at 432 Sixth Avenue in the heart of Greenwich Village, GUSI brings a refined and soulful interpretation of Eastern European cuisine to New York City, infused with the warmth and brightness of Mediterranean influence.
A New Eastern European Restaurant in the Heart of Greenwich Village
GUSI, the new two-storey Eastern European restaurant and bar from Boris Artemyev and Elena Melnikova, will officially open its doors on Friday, May 8, 2026 at 432 Sixth Avenue in the heart of Greenwich Village.
Named after the Slavic word for “geese,” GUSI is a deeply personal, soulful venture where refined Eastern European cuisine meets Mediterranean warmth, creating a dining experience unlike anything else in New York City right now.
Spanning two distinct floors, each its own world, GUSI unfolds as a journey from the grounded, art-filled ground floor to an airy, mural-adorned second-floor retreat overlooking the iconic Jefferson Market Library.
The forthcoming GUSI Restaurant at 432 Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Village — opening Friday, May 8, 2026.
The Founders
In the GUSI kitchen — seasonal ingredients shaped by Eastern European tradition.
Founded by Boris Artemyev and Elena Melnikova
Founded by husband-and-wife team Boris Artemyev and Elena Melnikova, both seasoned veterans of New York’s restaurant scene, GUSI is a deeply personal venture and the realization of a shared American dream.
Together, they bring decades of combined experience and an unwavering vision: a place where Eastern European heritage, exceptional cuisine, and warm, intuitive hospitality converge.
The Cuisine
A Culinary Journey Rooted in Tradition and Migration
Crispy pork belly with lime, pickled red onion, and house pickles — a GUSI reading of Eastern European comfort.
New York is home to only a handful of restaurants dedicated to Eastern European cuisine. GUSI adds a distinct new voice to that conversation, one grounded in tradition yet shaped by a contemporary point of view, with interpretations that feel both respectful and quietly unexpected.
At the heart of the menu is an expansive dumpling program that defines the GUSI experience. Pelmeni appear in multiple styles and fillings, from classic combinations of beef and pork or beef, pork, and veal, to less commonly seen expressions featuring elk, buffalo, goose, and a Mediterranean-influenced variation finished with tahini.
Pierogi receive a similarly considered treatment. Rather than the short crust dough most familiar to New York diners, GUSI highlights a lesser-known tradition of puff pastry pierogi, resulting in a lighter, flakier texture that offers a new dimension while remaining rooted in heritage.
Borscht anchors the menu as a fixture, offered daily in its classic form alongside rotating weekly interpretations that reflect the dish’s deep regional diversity.
A GUSI tasting — dumplings, skewers, and small plates spanning Eastern European tradition and Mediterranean influence.
Highlight
Expansive Dumpling Program
Pelmeni in classic and rare expressions — beef and pork, beef-pork-veal, elk, buffalo, goose, and a Mediterranean variation finished with tahini.
Highlight
Rotating Borscht Interpretations
Borscht as a daily fixture, anchored by the classic and rotated weekly to reflect the dish's deep regional diversity.
Highlight
House Pickled Vegetables
A traditional pickling program that brings brightness and acidity across the menu and into the bar.
Highlight
Mediterranean Influence
Olive oil, tahini, herbs, and citrus woven through the menu — a quietly contemporary point of view.
Highlight
Eastern European Comfort Cuisine
Refined comfort built on memory: pierogi in a lesser-known puff pastry tradition, alongside soulful seasonal plates.
The Bar
GUSI’s Bar Program: Nostalgia, Nature, and the Taste of Home
GUSI’s cocktail program is rooted in memory and tradition, drawing from flavors that shaped its team long before “mixology” entered their vocabulary.
The beverage menu complements the food through house-infused vodkas and a focused list of signature cocktails designed to pair naturally with the richness and warmth of the cuisine. Ingredients are natural and minimally handled, crafted without commercial shortcuts to preserve their integrity and meaning.
Pine cone infusions recall summers spent climbing trees, cornelian cherry liqueur evokes grandmothers’ compotes, tomato infusions channel garden lunches, and boiled condensed milk becomes a grown-up nod to a beloved childhood treat.
Seasonality guides the program, with cocktails shifting as the year turns, echoing the way these flavors once marked time.
By day and into the afternoon, GUSI also features coffee from Devoción, reflecting the same thoughtful approach found throughout the experience.
The Wine List
GUSI’s Curated Wine Program
An extensive wine list plays a vital role at GUSI, balancing classic European and American labels with natural, biodynamic, and organic selections.
Thoughtfully selected to appeal to both seasoned wine enthusiasts and more casual drinkers, the list offers familiar favorites alongside lesser-known discoveries, with a range of styles and price points to suit any occasion.
Designed to pair seamlessly with the menu, the program encourages exploration while remaining approachable and welcoming for all guests.
A GUSI main paired naturally with bold European reds.
Plates designed to meet a curated list of natural, biodynamic, and classic wines.
The Sound
The Music Concept
The ground floor is equipped with a high-fidelity, customized sound system designed for vinyl listening, with curated record selections setting the tone throughout the evening.
Drawing from a range of genres and eras, the soundtrack adds warmth, rhythm, and a sense of intention to the space, positioning music as an experiential layer rather than background noise.
The Design
Design Vision: Two Worlds, One Story
GUSI’s interiors are designed as a journey that unfolds across two distinct moods, each floor telling its own chapter of a larger story.
The ground floor features a curated collection of original art objects crafted exclusively for the space, while the second floor is adorned with hand-painted ceiling and wall murals inspired by abstract expressionism and the vibrant culture of New York City.
The space uses texture, light, and cultural moments rooted in memory to guide guests from a grounded, warm, and tactile first floor to an airy and refined second floor.
The ground floor — textile art, dried botanicals, and vintage vessels assembled into a tactile, layered room.
An original work commissioned for the ground floor — a painterly portrait edged in expressionist red and black.
A mixed-media portrait collage commissioned for GUSI — pop ephemera framing a quiet, classical pose.
GUSI’s identity mural — a Hirschfeld-inflected pop-art portrait of a Manhattan night, with cabaret dancers, a lobster dinner, and the 432 Sixth Avenue address woven into the scene.
First Floor
Geese, Earthbound
The ground level embodies the essence of the goose. It is grounded, warm, and deeply human. Darkness, charred wood, vintage mirrors, and tactile surfaces create a mood that is intentionally cozy and contemporary while still rooted in memory.
The Passage
A Shift in Mood
The stairway connecting both floors is designed as a symbolic threshold, guiding guests from earth to air, from grounded comfort to graceful uplift.
Second Floor
Swans, Airy and Elevated
Upstairs, the mood transforms entirely. Here GUSI becomes Lebedi, another Slavic word for swans. Soft gray-green walls, parquet floors, tablecloths, draped curtains, and hand-painted murals create an elevated, poetic dining experience.
The Schedule
Opening Hours
GUSI will open with weekday dinner service from 4:00 pm to midnight and weekend all-day service from noon to midnight, including brunch on weekend day shifts.
In the following months, hours will expand to noon through midnight daily, adding weekday lunch service.
By month three to four, weekday service will begin at 9:00 am, with the ground floor operating as a morning café featuring Devoción coffee, pastries, and sandwiches before transitioning into full service through midnight.
Weekday Dinner
4:00 pm – Midnight
Weekend Service
Noon – Midnight
Future Expansion
Lunch, café service, pastries, sandwiches
About
About GUSI
GUSI is an Eastern European restaurant with a Mediterranean soul, located at 432 Sixth Avenue in the heart of New York City’s Greenwich Village.
Founded by Boris Artemyev and Elena Melnikova, the restaurant is a deeply personal expression of two lives shaped by movement, memory, and the search for belonging.
Named after the Slavic word for “geese,” GUSI draws on the mythology of migration: the instinct to travel, to adapt, and to return. It is a restaurant built around the idea that food, like memory, carries us home.
The menu celebrates refined Eastern European comfort cuisine reframed through a Mediterranean lens, supported by a collection of house-made infused spirits and a thoughtfully curated selection of natural wines.
Situated in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood long defined by its spirit of creative freedom and its welcome of wanderers, artists, and dreamers, GUSI feels like a natural extension of that legacy.
