Lure Fishbar Chef Preston Clark’s Favorite Moules Frites, Steak Tartare, and French Onion Soup in New York

I love the restaurant. I love the chef. I’ve known [chef] Daniel [Boulud] for a while. He’s been a friend of the family for many, many years. I love having the proper multi-course French dinner with all the bells and all the trimmings in that high-end, four-star service style of restaurant where it’s almost like they pay attention to every detail before you can think about it.

In that style of restaurant, I’m always wowed by the service after the end of the meal. It’s often flawless. When you’re paying in that realm of price point, I think that people are looking for flawless high-end service. There’s been many people here at Lure who have also given absolutely flawless service, but it’s a completely different style from Daniel.

The last time I was there, it was for my girlfriend’s birthday and we had the tasting menu with the wine pairings. And I remember the tuna carpaccio that comes on what we call the “eyeball” plate here. It’s a kitchen term. It’s a type of plate that’s shaped like an oval with two points on each end, and it looks like an eye. I remember loving the combination of tuna and foie gras. It’s the texture: the firmness of the tuna with the softness of the foie gras.

And there was this crab salad. Like a peekytoe or King crab salad. It had a mushroom custard – maybe hen of the woods or shiitake custard, and so the combination was fantastic. It was almost like surf and turf.

There was also a Dover sole dish with shallot and Chardonnay. That was fantastic. The acidity in that dish – it was such a sharp dish it made your mouth water. It’s very similar to how I cook with high acid. And the fish was cooked perfectly.

The service was definitely flawless. There were so many people tending to our table. I always knew that you were being watched very, very carefully. Like someone was obviously marking the table with silverware. And then there was somebody for the wine. And then there was like a new person to clear and the new runner to drop the next course. There were so many hands; you’re so taken care of. It’s really a nice feeling.

This is the restaurant that I kind of grew up in. I like everything there. The tuna ribbons with ginger, crushed avocado, radishes and chile oil: That’s probably one of the most famous dishes.

One of the all-star dishes there is the trout sashimi with dill purée, horseradish, lemon, and olive oil foam. And to this day, this is probably one of the best dishes I’ve ever had in my life. Because of the way the flavors really interact with each other. You have the fish that’s seasoned with sea salt, so it’s perfectly salty. The entire dish is draped in trout roe, which adds another element of salinity, but it also adds a difference in texture. You have the lemon foam, which is super light and airy. It’s almost like there’s nothing in your mouth but flavor. The acid is very, very sharp. And then there’s another punch of flavor from the fresh ground horseradish.

I can go on and on about their roast squab. It’s seasoned with a curry spice powder, lemon juice, and it comes with a little bit of greens like watercress so you also get a little bit of bitterness. There’s also some sort of corn cake so you get that sweetness. I don’t think that there’s any better restaurant that hits all of the different flavor profiles — sweet, salty, sour, bitter — so harmoniously.

Dishes are executed flawlessly; the recipes are measured down to a tenth of a gram. And that’s how we do things at Lure.

I went there for dinner with a friend last time. It’s just a good restaurant. It’s a staple New York City restaurant. It’s been around for a long time. And because of my family history, I have a childhood connection to that restaurant. I usually sit in one of the banquettes against the back wall.

I always get the oysters: Island Creek from Massachusetts, with a splash of mignonette. The size of the oysters is good — like a nice cup. The brininess is perfect. They have a fantastic French onion soup. And their steak tartare is classic with a raw egg. I just think that their recipe — the ratio of shallots to cornerstones to capers — is fantastic.

I go to Balthazar once every two, three months. I first went there in 1998. I was working at Charlie Trotter, and we flew from Chicago to New York for an event. Afterwards, the line cooks took me to Balthazar. They were a little bit older than me, so I was excited to be hanging out with the guys and being part of that crew. They were people that I revered, that I was trying to emulate as a cook. Even now, I think they do a great job hiring the front-of-the-house staff. They’re very welcoming and warm.

I always get the oysters. I recently had their gougères [baked cheese puffs]. They’re light, airy; flavor’s good. And I always get their moules frites, Provençal style, with French fries. If you have a bad mussel, that’s the worst thing ever. But they never start with an inferior product, making sure that every mussel is closed before you cook them. Or if it’s open, you give it a squeeze, and it closes. That’s how you know it’s alive. And 100 percent, I’ve never had a bad mussel there.

I was there a few weeks ago. It was a kind of clear-my-head and get-ready-for-the-week dinner by myself. I like to relax, reflect, plan, take in the environment, people-watch. It’s in the West Village so it’s got a downtown hip vibe with lots of beautiful people just enjoying themselves on a night-out-of-town kind of fun. And this was a Thursday. I went there after work for a 10 o’clock reservation. That’s another reason why I love French restaurants: They’re often open late.

I got the rack of lamb. They serve it as two large pieces versus slicing it into individual chops and fanning them out, which is how I would do it. They serve it as two double chops. They were really tender. Very well executed.