I’ve heard a lot of hype about the brunch at Prune 54 East First Street, New York, NY 10003, but they don’t take reservations and we’re not into waiting on line. When I decided to meet Alice for lunch, Prune seemed like the perfect idea, only a short walk from her office.
Mediocre black olives and celery with a little dish of salt is the first taste you get and it sets the tone for the whole experience, different but not that great. The Spicy Eggplant is nice, but looking back at the menu now, I realize that fried salt cod was missing. The hard boiled egg and grilled flatbread are prepared nicely, but overall the dish was a tad salty. The imbalance is partially because there isn’t enough bread for the eggplant.
The James Beard Onion Sandwich was just too much mayonnaise for a normal person. The bread is soft and crust-less, nicely presented with fresh herbs, but only Lon, and I guess James Beard (no disrespect to the dead) eats 1/2″ of mayonnaise. They did use lovely sweet onions though. The fried chicken livers were not special at all.
The Pasta Kerchief was a let down, the pasta sheets too soft, the ham too bland. The brown butter aroma and pine nuts were nice but couldn’t save the dish. In the end, it was just an awkward mix of stuff thrown in a bowl.
The Bacon and Marmalade Sandwich is such a nice concept (which I will likely be replicating). I always love salty and sweet, but the execution was the same as if you asked any mom to put together a bacon and marmalade sandwich. The shredded potato was cloaked in sesame oil and horrid. Neither of us ate more than the first taste.
The menu for lunch is very different from the brunch menu so perhaps brunch is better, but lunch here is tragic considering the price. This was three appetizers and one entree for two people, which came out to $52 (with tax and tip). Three out of Four dishes were recommended by the waitress (all except onion sandwich) so they were given the opportunity to let their best dishes shine. Interesting? Yes. Delicious? No. There are many other places I’d rather go to for lunch, in much more convenient locations.
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I go by the saying, “When in Rome, eat like the Romans.” I wouldn’t expect Prune to make some fabulous Middle Eastern appetizers, that’s why i always steer away from ‘hummus’ appetizers at American restaurants because I know that’s not the chef’s specialities. The chef added it just to add more varieties for the diners.
is that potato? It looks like spaghetti to me, hee.
That’s a shame, I’ve eaten there twice and liked it both times.
Kim, when something is recommended, I go with it. While I think similarly most of the time, I find that these days, the world is so global and talented chefs out there are often able to rock out some incredible stuff despite it not being their specialty.
Bill, did you go for lunch, brunch, or dinner?
I understand you. It has to be a really good recommendation in order for me to order something that’s not the restaurant’s style (fusion restaurants aside). It’s like you wouldn’t order a tuna fish sandwich at Katz because that just defeats the purpose of going there. But yea, I do order salad from a burger joint since I don’t eat meat. 🙂
How sad, I really liked my meal there. I went for dinner.
Man, that sucks that Prune was such a disappointment…The Bacon and Marmalade Sandwich does really sound good, but yeah, you can just as easily slap that together at home…