The Food Chain

Prune’s Fried-Oyster Omelette Combines Everything L.A. Chef Julie Robles Loves

Photo: Melissa Hom

Each week on the Food Chain, we ask a chef to describe a dish he or she recently enjoyed. The chef who prepared the dish responds and then picks his or her own memorable meal. On and on it goes. Last week, Bouchon rep Jeff Cerciello discussed a Butter-Crumbed Egg at L.A.’s Tavern with executive chef Julie Robles. What’s rolling in this week, Robles?

Who: Julie Robles, executive chef at Tavern in L.A.
What: Fried-Oyster Omelette
Where: Prune, New York
When: Last fall

“The fried-oyster omelette at Prune is everything I love: eggs and something fried…. And it’s oysters in this case, even better. The fried oysters come in a perfectly cooked omelette and are served with this really delicious rémoulade, which is traditionally served with oysters in New Orleans. But it also comes with this unusual sweet glaze-y sauce, powdered sugar mixed with Tabasco, which sort of reminds me of an Asian dipping sauce. The whole dish works so well together: crispy oyster inside of fluffy eggs, with two very different sauces — one is rich and creamy, and the other, hot and sweet. I usually get a rosti potato and a big coffee, and I am totally satisfied. I am going to New York in November, and I will definitely be stopping in there for brunch to have it again.”

Chef-owner Gabrielle Hamilton responds:

“That’s been on since we started brunch, three or four years after Prune opened [in 1999]. I remember it took me for-freaking-ever to get this new service going. I had a lot of different eating experiences on a trip to New Orleans, and one of them was a fried-oyster po’boy, of course. And another one was at Galatoire’s. They have these fried eggplant sticks. And on the side they serve this little slurry concoction of, I think, Tabasco and powdered sugar; that was the impression I was left with. So at some point when I was home, all those things came back into my mind and turned into this fried-oyster omelette with tartar sauce and a Tabasco–powdered sugar slurry on the side. Why is the fried-oyster omelette good? It’s this crunchy-warm business inside the soft omelette. And this spicy-sweet thing is pretty appealing to some people. It’s a popular dish.”

Check in next Wednesday to see which dish Chef Gabrielle Hamilton is raving about.

Prune’s Fried-Oyster Omelette Combines Everything L.A. Chef Julie Robles