Who

Irreverent culinary figure Hamilton runs the widely-adored East Village eatery Prune, known for its eccentric American menu and eleven Bloody Mary variations available at brunch.

Backstory

Hamilton grew up in the food business—her father, Jim Hamilton, runs Hamilton's Grill Room in Lambertville, NJ—and she began her career when she was 12, working as a dishwasher. But she decided she'd be better off pursuing another passion: writing. She was earning an MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan when she started working part-time for a catering company.  The experience reawakened her interest in the culinary arts, and before long she'd ditched her writing program to turn her attention to cooking full-time. In October 1999, she opened Prune—a reference to her childhood nickname—on a quiet stretch of 1st Street in the East Village. It made Time Out's Top 100 list the following year and has been a neighborhood institution since, catering to a crowd of locals, Chowhound types, and off-duty chefs.

Of note

In an industry that's depressingly dominated by men, it's worth noting that Hamilton is one of the few top-rated female chefs in town. Like other highly-acclaimed female chefs in New York City—Annisa's Anita Lo, for example—she's been a staunch advocate on behalf of other women in the food world. The most striking testament to her culinary feminism is the demographic makeup of Prune's staff—they're all women, including the cooks, the wait staff, and everybody in between.

As for what comes out of the restaurant's estrogen-engulfed kitchen, Hamilton prides herself on cooking inventive but unpretentious takes on classic dishes, like a batter-dipped and deep-fried club sandwich and sardines on Triscuits. And there are those famous Bloody Marys at brunch, which attract hordes of locals and put the complimentary mimosas at other brunch spots to shame. Despite bailing on her MFA, Hamilton also hasn't given up on writing completely. Her pieces have appeared in The New Yorker, Food & Wine, Saveur (where her sister, Melissa Hamilton, is an editor), and the New York Times; her first book, Blood, Bones and Butter, will hit shelves in 2008.

Personal

The lesbian chef is a recently-minted mom: In May 2006, she gave birth to a boy named Leone. Coincidentally, both Hamilton and her sous chef, Ginevra Iverson, were pregnant at the same time, and worked side-by-side in the miniature kitchen until they gave birth. Hamilton and her son live on East 1st Street, a few steps from Prune.