A solo lunch at Prune
Staycation. A 2008 word of the year, and a day to enjoy New York City on my own pace, without having to mingle with the weekend crowds or scramble around town running errands. Also perfect days to check out immensely popular and impossible restaurants on less crowded weekdays. So while I had taken a bitterly cold Tuesday for my staycation, it provided a perfect foil to check out Prune by myself.
Sans crazy brunch crowds, Prune is actually a very nice place to have a meal. The room, while tiny is bright and airy, with floor length windows letting generously amounts of sun in. The decor is coolly shabby and furniture worn and purposely mismatched. Most cooks and servers were female and dressed in pink t-shirts. Even the menu was girlishly pink. It was my type of place, down to the pressed tin ceiling, cocktail glasses with hula girl motifs and the ramekin of olives and celery sticks to munch on while I decide what to eat.
Prune's manti special
My heart was set on the manti the moment my server recited the specials. The bowl of manti came with about 10 petite dumplings, each filled with minced lamb, wrapped into miniscule purses and then panfried ala gyoza style. The server said that when Turkish women made these dumplings, the smaller the manti the better wives they would become. The chef here would be a very worthy wife indeed. The manti is served in a spicy sauce redolent of garlic and paprika, and is topped off with creamy smooth yogurt. I asked for bread at the end to sop up all the wonderful sauce. Priced gently at $10, it was a small dish with big flavors and matched well with my glass of medium bodied Italian red. Unfortunately, the size of the meal was neither large enough for a full sized lunch but not small enough to justify ordering a succulent looking burger every other diner was scarfing down, but that could just give me more cause to escape out for another lunch soon!
Prune
54 E1st St (Between 1st and 2nd Aves)
