I’ve been reading about Prune on the LES of Manhattan for years and about it’s owner/chef, Gabrielle Hamilton as well.
Anyone been to the restaurant? I’m interested in going and wonder if it’s worth the trip.
Have not been, but a foodie friend in town who knows food loved his one visit a year ago.
I got her Prune cookbook around the holidays and it is one of the rare books that I immediately wanted to cook everything in it upon first look.
Would like to hear what you think if you go.
Living in the Denver area for the past 20 years, I’d never even heard of Prune. But, after reading Blood, Bones and Butter two months ago, I will be sure to go there the next time I’m in NYC. Really enjoyed her book, and have bought several copies to give away as gifts to friends that I know will like it too.
I’ve been easily 15-20 times, mostly to dinner but occasionally for brunch. Cute little place at the corner of 1st St and 1st Ave. sits about 25.
The food is consistently wonderful and hasn’t chwnged for the worse in a dozen years. I started going there around 2002-3 maybe. First place I had sweetbreads and still my benchmark. Hearty, pungent and unafraid cooking, and if you page through the cookbook you’ll get that.
We used to go often to Prune, but that was as recent as 2 years ago. I’d suspect that by now it’s considered an institution in the LES. Brunch is the strongest offerings, but no reservations (for < 6 people in a party) and people mill outside waiting to get a table. Weekday breakfast is your best bet if you plan to go and hate wait lines. Dinner has nuggets, but mostly hits-and-misses. I used to be able to BYOB a $20 - $25 per (I can’t remember exact corkage fee) then.
It’s been an institution on the LES for ten years, believe me. Nothing new about prune, but a lot of restaurants have come and gone in that time. Brunch is predictably good but lines around the corner every time. I still prefer dinner, though it’s been a few years. Perhaps, as Ramon suggests, it has slid, but I haven’t heard that complaint from anyone else.
It’s in the important category, for me, of restaurants where I will always know what I’m getting, and, knowing that, will always be satisfied, because I’ve gone there looking for that particular thing. An “old friend” restaurant, a “married 40 years” restaurant. Perhaps I’m stretching metaphors, but hope I’m conveying the sense of familiar and beloved, without any expectations of revelation. I only think to go there occasionally now that I spend less time in that area and in NYC in general, but put me in the camp of those who have not been disappointed.
I think this is an important point. My tastes and lifestyle has changed since I was a young, kid less, guy in NYC. I don’t get to eat out nearly as much and thus have a very low tolerance for the high risk/high reward kind of meal anymore. I ,Ike to know that I’m going to have a great meal on a consistent basis. If this means I miss out on the highest of highs but also miss 90% of the lows so be it.