This NYC Chef Was Just Named The Nation's Best

EAST VILLAGE, NY — The coveted James Beard prize for outstanding chef was awarded to local chef Gabrielle Hamilton, the James Beard Foundation announced Monday night.

Hamilton is the chef and owner of Prune restaurant, located at 54 E. First St., which opened in the East Village in 1999.

"It would make me so happy, I would be so grateful, if I didn’t read tomorrow that the only reason I got this is because I’m a woman," Hamilton said when accepting her award, according to Eater.

The coveted award is given to a "working chef in America whose career has set national industry standards and who has served as an inspiration to other food professionals," according to the award description. Chefs must have been working for the past five years to be considered. Hamilton beat out four other nominated chefs for the recognition.

Prune, which seats just 30 people, has long been a popular and critically acclaimed restaurant. Hamilton has been repeatedly recognized by the James Beard Foundation in past awards; she was twice nominated for the best chef in NYC award in 2009 and 2010 and won the category in 2011. In addition to her numerous recognitions, Hamilton is a prolific author. She writes a regular column for the New York Times magazine and wrote an acclaimed memoir called "Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef."

She describes finding the restaurant space that would become Prune in her memoir: "There were legions of living cockroaches," she wrote of the empty space that had previously housed a failed restaurant. "Twenty-five pounds of apples had rotted away to black dust."

The restaurant industry, like other throughout the U.S., has been uprooted in the last year after multiple high-profile male chefs were accused of sexual harassment and assault amid the wave of #MeToo allegations. Past winners of the "Outstanding Chef" award include Mario Batali, who was accused by multiple women of groping and sexual harassment. After accusations against Batali and other high-profile chefs, like Ken Friedman of The Spotted Pig, surfaced, the James Beard Foundation said its awards committees would evaluate its policies "to both ensure the integrity of our programs, and be certain they remain a beacon of excellence and source of inspiration in our industry."

The James Beard Foundation also recognized Missy Robbins, of Williamsburg's Lilia restaurant, as the best chef in New York City. Robbins opened Lilia in 2016. Also nominated in the category were Amanda Cohen of the restaurant Dirt Candy, Ignacio Mattos of Estela, Alex Stupak of Empellón Midtown and Jody Williams of Buvette Gastrothèque.

Image credit: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images for NYCWFF. Image caption: Chef Gabrielle Hamilton attends the Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival.