October 2005
Prune
by Celia Cheng
Week after week I wake up on Sundays to a craving for either Spaghetti a la Carbonara, Steak & Eggs, or something else that’s on Prune’s brunch menu. I don’t mind waiting in line for an hour just to get my fill. It’s as if they put some addictive drug in their food, because even when I get my fix I’m back the next week for more.
Prune is a not a newcomer. Gabrielle Hamilton opened the restaurant in 1999 with a mission: her motto was, and remains, "cooking all of — and only — the foods I wanted to eat at home: trickless, gadgetless and pretenseless." Well, it turned out that a good majority of New York City also wants to eat what she wants to eat and cook too.
Prune has had a strong following since the beginning. The cuisine is more or less "colonial," if you must characterize it. For me I consider it comfort food, but not in the mac-and-cheese kind of way. Gabrielle takes influence from her French mother, who cooked under a war-time mentality, reminiscent of her own upbringing, though she did not live through war. So while fried sweetbreads, roast suckling pig, marinated anchovies might seem like adventurous foods, it’s home-style cooking for Gabrielle. The key here is making everyday dishes consistently well and presenting a menu that is simple but planned with care. Of course, not everything is so outrageous, as there are also classics like deviled eggs and creamed corn succotash on the dinner bar menu, and these really do conjure up a sense of home-style warmth.
It’s also the attitude and philosophy of this restaurant that I love so much. No frills, straightforward: come eat, have a good time, and be on your way. The staff at Prune are one big family who believe in the same principles. As a small restaurant that seats 30, there is none of that tension and division that other restaurants have between the front and the back of the house. Everyone extends courtesy to the other while working with the utmost efficiency.
And so it is with great pleasure that I honor Prune for continuously evoking cravings within me by dedicating this feature to a small restaurant that has had a huge impact on the culinary landscape of the city.
