An Oral History of Prune’s Brunch

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For New York’s anniversary, we are celebrating the history of the city’s restaurants with a series of posts throughout the month. Read all of our “Who Ate Where” stories here.

For 20 years in the early aughts, Saturdays and Sundays in the East Village meant a line of people along 1st Street, stretching back from the mauve awning outside of Prune. The menu — Dutch babies, eggs Benedict, Bloody Marys of extravagant accoutrement — never changed. Neither did the crowd, really. All 14 tables would be filled from the moment the restaurant’s doors were unlocked until service ended at 4 p.m. It could be chaotic, but the person bumping your elbow at the next table might have been Cameron Diaz. “The rule was that this is where the brunchers and Joe Schmoes could sit next to some very famous people and you wouldn’t bother them,” says Kat Robinson, who worked as a host. “The people of New York got it. They knew the rules.”

Gabrielle Hamilton, chef and owner: Going out to brunch was an aspirational activity. Brunch is the meal equivalent of people in catalogues, lounging in their perfect white robes. I loved brunch so much that, like an idiot, instead of going to brunch myself, I decided to make brunch at Prune.

Shaina Loew-Banayan, cook: Clearly it was legendary for people coming in to eat because we were so fucking busy every weekend, but it was also legendary to work. I still meet new friends now in my career and life who also worked brunch at Prune, and everyone is like, Holy fuck. Did we really do that?

Hamilton: When we started brunch, the East Village wasn’t yet as gentrified. It was trucker-hat city. But gradually, as the demographic of the East Village shifted — and our brunch became increasingly famous — the crowd changed, too.

Mashama Bailey, sous-chef: Prune had been written up in a Japanese guidebook, so there was always a large Japanese contingency. They’d always order a Pancake Benny — that is, a Dutch baby and eggs Benny. The rest, as I remember, was a mix. Some people rolled in wearing their pajamas, then you had people who’d traveled to New York just for brunch. The crazy part is that no one complained about waiting in line.

Karla Riccobuono, bartender: We would keep the door locked and watch the crowd line up around the corner. It was pure chaos right at the beginning. They’d all sit at the same time. Half of us were just waking up. It was nonstop.

Dara Tesser, chef de cuisine: During brunch service, there were only three people on the line: the egg, the grill, the expo. You’re with your team. You go down and everybody goes down together.

Bailey: You rotated through every station, and if you could do brunch at Prune, you could probably do anything.

Tesser: Working in the kitchen was like a sprint. As soon as you set foot in the building, you were running, just going and going with no lulls. You didn’t take a breath until service was done.

Loew-Banayan: It was definitely different from dinner service. At dinner, if something wasn’t perfect, you’d have to remake it or replate it. At brunch, if something was 95 percent, send it. But within that mind-set, everything was really attentive. It was like a machine, and the prep was insane. There was a brunch prep shift on Friday that was just brutal. After Friday-night dinner service, all of the staff would gather. One person would go to the walk-in in the basement. Every single person would stand on the stairs and pass up supplies — eggs, toasters, everything — and the kitchen completely changed for service in the morning.

Michele Vedernack, bartender and manager: Gabrielle’s instructions were, We throw a party.

Hamilton: We started opening bottles of Cava around noon. Free Cava for the staff. I think they were all drunk, but I’m fine with that.

Lauren Kois, host: It’s the first place that I ever worked where you got free unlimited shift drinks. GH did that even when money was really tight.

Kendra “Boo Boo Darling” Lansing, manager: I definitely abused the free Cava. We started calling them salads. I’d be like, “I could go for a nice healthy salad.” And the bartender would get me a shot of Cava.

Vedernack: We had regulars, of course. Jake Gyllenhaal came for years. One time I sat him at our communal table, next to a mother and daughter who were visiting from the Midwest. The daughter came up to me afterwards gushing. “This is my first trip to New York City,” she said. “I’ve never seen anyone famous before!”

Kat Robinson, manager: One time, Gwyneth Paltrow was celebrating her birthday. Her assistant gave a couple of the staff tickets to see Beyoncé in Central Park that weekend. Those were some cool perks of the job.

Kois: No one got waxed — special treatment — because they were famous. I was told, You did not acknowledge that someone was famous. It wasn’t out of respect for them. It was because it didn’t fucking matter. There were no reservations at brunch except in freakishly rare circumstances. The only exception I can remember is that Bette Midler could get a reservation.

Sammy Tunis, server: Bette Midler came in all the time. Ryan Murphy and his husband came in constantly.

Bailey: Damon Dash used to come in a lot. He lived in the neighborhood and no one knew who he was. But I did.

Riccobuono: I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan and used to host watch parties. The day after the wrap party, Maisie Williams came in. I had to go to the staircase and silently scream to be normal. Mandy Moore was a regular, too. That was cool because “Candy” was one of our brunch songs.

Tunis: I feel like the average time people were sitting for brunch was 35 minutes. We made it very clear at brunch that you needed to eat your eggs and get out. Not in a rude way. We were perfectly kind, but we were also going to drop a check on your table and clear the plates.

Bailey: It was fast and dirty and greasy and fun. You got there at 7 a.m. and you left at 5 p.m. and hung out the whole time. You laughed and listened to really loud music and sang along to the playlist. You were in it until it was over.

Riccobuono: There was a deep clean after service, and then the entire brunch team would go to the Boilermaker on First and 1st and have burgers and beers and lots of shots.

Hamilton: We were always in shock. Five hours in a 30-seat restaurant, 236 covers. That service paid our bills for years.

Riccobuono: The last day of brunch was March 15, 2020, the day before the lockdown went into place. Gabrielle called an emergency staff meeting right after brunch. We stayed and had a little toast of Champagne and sat there in shock. Because all the vendors were still delivering, we got emergency kits: eggs, rice, potatoes, toilet paper. I came back with another girl the next week and delivered these boxes to all the staff.

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Joshua David Stein , 2024-04-25 14:00:44

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