Friday, January 21, 2011

Prune (Manhattan) 01/2011



Ever since Gabrielle Hamilton, owner and chef of Prune, came to Melbourne, to speak about future food trends, I have been wanting to visit her restaurant. It is noted for the wide ranging and unusual products used and their creative modern American dishes. Last year I found the one hour wait too long and gave up but I made it last Monday. It was Martin Luther King Day so they were not serving their regular menu but a brunch which had a large concentration of egg dishes, breakfast dishes and a considerable cocktail menu, an odd combination. Things I had been looking forward to like sauteed chicken hearts with flagelot beans, or skate wing, were not available.
Not really wanting anything on the menu, and being alone, I settled for the $25 "Lower East Side Appetizing".

This consisted of a platter of smoked salmon, sturgeon, cable fish, a small smoked mackerel, onion, tomato with Russ & Daughters assorted breads and garnishes.
This simple dish was really good but hardly gave me a fair view of what the restaurant could do.
It's a sardine can joint in a down market area in the Lower East side. The decor is basic, walls are wood, painted a rough yellow to about a metre and then plaster.

A bar takes up about a quarter of the room. From the outside it looks like this,
with the bar on the right.
Definitely a place for patient foodies.

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