I'm Gabrielle Hamilton and I'm the chef and owner of Prune Restaurant in the East Village of Manhattan, New York.

I was the chef and owner of Prune Restaurant. I know, should I, I don't know whether to be in the

present or past and it's in itself

confusing.

I've just written a piece for the New York Times magazine about this experience of shutting down your restaurant, which

many most of us have done due to the coronavirus pandemic.

And okay, I'm gonna start walking down the block to the restaurant. I

went to visit the restaurant the other day and

there's some traffic on the Houston Street to check in on her and it looks like it's going to be a very beautiful

spring day.

It's just a daily sort of check-in to make sure that all the systems are

working that the refrigerator is still humming and the pilot lights are lit. I don't roll up the gate.

Okay, the gate's up.

Well, you can hear the compressors humming. I

recognize all the

sounds and the smells. It's not that fresh. I have to admit

it's a little stale in here. You can sort of

feel that it hasn't been lived in.

Anyway, the manager's desk is left. Well, right where she was when she left. So here's her white denim jacket hanging on the back of her chair and her clogs

and a little dirty on the toe. Her sunglasses. There's a funny little

odd

eerie. Maybe that's the word I've been looking for. A slight

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