New York: Prune

At this point, you are probably thinking that all I do when I travel is eat, and you are actually right. I'm not done with this trip yet. When we're up in NY, we like to have at least one dinner in the city and for this trip, we went to Prune (54 East First St). We had debated between Prune and The Spotted Pig, but in the end decided on Prune because we were more drawn to the menu.

It's a pretty small space, much smaller than I was expecting. And cozy. They had to pull out the table so that I could sit down and then there was some rearranging to get it all back. You may be disgusted by the amount of food we had, so keep in mind that we only come up to the city once a year and we had been waiting to come here for some time.

The pictures are all a little dark because I don't like using the flash for food, especially in cozy restaurants, so please bear with.

While you look over the menu, you're given a small bowl of garbanzo beans. I think they're fried because they were light, salty, and melted in your mouth. Absolutely addicting. While we were eating, I saw a huge batch get dumped into the serving area, an enormous steaming mess of em!

I know that we got a bottle of wine, but I apparently didn't write it down. Wine is J's area anyway, and I just go along for the ride.

For a starter, I couldn't resist getting the marrow bones, which are one of my favorite starters next to foie gras. Folks who hate either really hate them and probably can't understand why folks like em. This serving was definitely enough for two or even three to share, so I definitely felt indulgent and maybe a little sick at eating the whole thing by myself. It came with a lovely parsley salad made of parsley, lightly pickled onions, thin slices of cornichons, capers, and a light vinaigrette. Very tasty. I bypassed a lot of the thick toasted (buttered) bread. I'm not much of one to eat my fats with bread. I don't know why, but it's just not my thing.

J started off with the sweetbreads, which are quickly becoming his favorite starter. These were exactly like sweetbreads should be, crunchy on the outside, rich, smooth, and soft on the inside. We had a few parallels between our meal at Prune and at 4th and Swift. We were way happier with our Prune experience.

For a main, I got the branzino which was grilled whole and stuffed with lemon and basil. It came with a side of sea salt and was very enjoyable. The fish was perfectly cooked, and I spent a long time happily eating it. Like every time I eat whole fish, I wish that I had chopsticks with me because it's just easier to eat with chopsticks, but I think I did well enough with my fork at the end of the day.

Grilled whole fish is so good that you would think that I would make it at home more. I will have to start doing that. It all starts with being able to find the good fish though. I don't think I can find branzino in the market.

The branzino came with a shelled bean salad which was a lot like a succotash. It came with cannelini beans, wax and green beans, and halved grape tomatoes. As a light side, it went perfectly with the fish. And come to think of it, it probably helped balance out that decadent marrow bone starter, too.

While I was tackling my fish, J was enjoying his lamb shoulder steaks, which actually came advertised as such. They were perfectly cooked (medium rare) and had all that earthy goodness that you want from lamb. A Greek salad came on the side comprised of a creamy feta, olives, cucumbers, and tomatoes. It shouldn't be a surprise that these things go together (duh) but for some reason, I had never thought of doing it.

For dessert, I had poached pears and a decaf cappuccino. The pears were my only disappointment of the night. They were not fully poached or unripe and I struggled to cut out each bite with my spoon. The taste was okay, but certainly nothing special despite their raspberry sauce. The flavor ended up being dull. The candied ginger on top was a nice counterpoint, but only highlighted how lackluster the rest of the dish was.

J finished up with a decaf cappuccino and a dark chocolate cake with a truffle center. This is probably the worst picture I've taken in a while. I don't remember much about the cake since I was so consumed with trying to eat my pears, but I believe J enjoyed it and raptured about it.

Definitely a great meal. I wish Atlanta had a place like this. While I like complex French dishes as much as anyone, I'm really more into more simple dishes like Prune has to offer. Even Floataway, which is probably my favorite place right now, gets a little too complex sometimes and I wish they would step back and simply -- but just a little.

I did take away the ideas of the light salad accompaniments though and not as starters. I'm notoriously bad with side dishes, so bad that they are sometimes an afterthought. I think I'm getting better, but it's always nice to take away side dish ideas when we go out.