Prune
New York, NY 10003-9313
Phone: (212) 677-6221
03/15/2008 Posted by link2dan
I had dinner at Prune with a Manhattan chef who visits regularly. The staff is genial, the ambiance pleasant and the crowd hip but not too. The thing is, it's a restaurant, and they serve food. I ordered "Head-On Shrimp". I was confused for a few minutes, wondering what sort of preparation would give a head-on flavor. Then I realized they were going to be prawns with the heads on. The waitperson asked if I'd like any vegetables, but I thought whatever came with the shrimp would be fine. In fact, nothing came with the shrimp. There were two jumbo shrimp, and not only were the heads on, so was the shell. Well, I thought, one shrimp sitting on top of another on a white plate. $14. Imagine peeling that shrimp skin right off and getting at the juicy, flavorful meat. Uh uh. The skin didn't want to come off. The shrimp were overcooked and dry. Zero flavor. No garnish, nothing. My companion ordered an omelet (?) and some sort of vegetable like fennel. Her omelet plate consisted of one perhaps 3 egg omelet, folded in half, and that's all. Flat. Nothing in it. The companion, remember, another chef, was stunned to see the other plate with an entire fennel plant that looked as though it had been boiled. The chef ate little of it. The dessert menu featured a delicious sounding chocolate cake, which I thought would be just the thing, but when it came it was the size of a brownie, tasted like a brownie, but a really bad brownie, again overcooked. The chef ordered some sort of milk thing that came in what appeared to be a shot glass. With no bottle of wine, but one glass and one well drink, the bill was over $80. The ingredients could not possibly have cost more than $15. That's an obscene markup. I would rather have had prunes for dinner.
Pros: It's a small place, so you can easily miss it.
Cons: The food is inedible.
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