Prune

Prune opened at 54 East 1st Street in 1999 and ran as one of the East Village's most-loved small restaurants until it closed in March 2020 under the New York PAUSE order. Chef Gabrielle Hamilton built it as a thirty-seat bistro, and for two decades it punched far above that footprint. Hamilton later wrote about shutting it down for The Counter, and the room has not reopened, which makes the closure a permanent one as of June 2026.

While it was a restaurant first, its bar program earned its own following. Prune ran a famous full page of Bloody Marys, a brunch ritual that pulled weekend lines down East 1st Street. That is why it earns a place here. For a generation of downtown drinkers, a Prune Bloody Mary was the Sunday New York reset.

Small, plain and intentionally so. Around thirty seats in a single tight room with a short bar, the kind of space where elbows touched and the kitchen was never far. The lack of polish was the charm. Hamilton kept it spare and let the food and the drinks carry the night, and the brunch crowd packed it regardless.

The Bloody Mary menu was the headline. Prune offered a long list of variations rather than a single house build, a brunch institution that other New York bars still measure themselves against. It was the rare case of a chef-led restaurant whose drink became as quoted as its food. With the room closed, the Sunday ritual has scattered to other downtown bars, and we have linked a few open options below.

For a drink in the same East Village stretch, try Amor y Amargo in New York for a short, sharp cocktail, Holiday Cocktail Lounge in New York for a neighbourhood classic, and Please Don't Tell in New York for a hidden-bar night.

Planning a night out? Read our best bars in the East Village guide and our best cocktail bars in New York list. Browse more on the New York cocktail bars hub or find a drink near you at cocktail bars near me.