716: Busy and Buzzy with Lure Fishbar’s Preston Clark

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0:31I started out in the pasta station, you know, and that's when I started learning flipping the pan. And, you know, and that was the first the first time I really started to, you know, realize the buzz of a restaurant. You know, Andre Agassi came in and the kitchen was all a buzz. And then, you know, then I had to go back to school and then I would come back. This is Taste. I'm your host, Matt Rodbarg.

0:59Preston Clark is the executive chef at Lure Fish Bar and Bar Mercer in New York City and joins me in the studio to talk about his really unique career. Clark's father, Patrick Clark, was the original chef at the Odeon and the first black chef to win a James Beard Award. Tragically, Patrick passed away in 1998 at the age of 42. Preston has picked up the Clark legacy while writing his own chapters, and we talk about his early chef life working with his dad at Tavern on the Green and his unique approach to comfort cooking at his wildly popular New York City restaurants. I had such a great conversation with Preston, and I hope you enjoy this episode.

1:43Preston Clark, welcome to This is Taste. Great to see you. How are you? Thank you. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. Pleasure to be here. I really am looking forward to this conversation. You know, you really have an incredible career. Thank you. And you really touch a lot of, you know, I would say history of New York dining. Right. Your father as well was a chef. And just really, I want to go back in time a little bit before coming into Lure era and such a cool restaurant. Really cool spot you're running right now. Thank you. Before we get into all that, though, I just want to know when you're off the clock in New York, where are you dining out?

2:19Where do I eat when I'm dining out? I enjoy Balthazar. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Balthazar is great. And most recently I went to, I took my girlfriend to Teto Or for Danielle. Yeah. Got a couple of sandwich shops that I go to. So really, it just depends on like what's going on in the day, what's going on in the week. Like, you know, I'm all over the place. You know, I probably, I don't do so much fine dining. No. But, you know, I definitely like Balthazar. Balthazar is a great restaurant. Yeah. And then I'll also eat at my restaurants. You know, I like to eat at Bar Mercer. Bar Mercer is like definitely, definitely, you know, because it's, it's, you know, the restaurant that I'm really putting a lot of, you know, there's no prerequisite to it.

2:54You understand what I mean? Like, Lure was there a little bit before I got there. So there's some things that you can't change. Bar Mercer was built from the ground up. So, you know, Bar Mercer is like the food that I like to eat. This is your menu. I mean, Lure is two decades old. So you've got. And, you know, and I have like, you know, you know, shout out to John McDonald. I definitely had tons of, tons of, of control there at the, you know, at Lure for the past, I guess, 11 years, almost 12 years. And so there are, you know, a lot of those dishes, I'd say like 85 % of the menu is mine, you know, but there are some, there are some classics that you couldn't touch.

3:22Like you really can't touch the, you know, the, the, the spicy tuna crispy rice, right? You can't touch the shrimp tempura, you know, things that, things that work, you know, if they aren't broken, you don't fix them. You know, so 85 % of that menu is mine, but, you know, the Bar Mercer is, you know, really food that I like to eat. So you have, you know, like, you know, like the hangover pasta and you have, you know, like the pigs in a blanket. So, you know, these are foods that I really enjoy eating. Yeah. there's something about your style of cooking it's elevated comfort in the best way possible and you really nail it and you're really smart with it not being heavy right cuisine that's a that's a that was definitely a point of mine you know and you know in my culinary career and like kind of developing my culinary style i really really tried to embrace you know being able to create and harness flavor without the addition of fat i mean so many people just adding so much butter butter butter i really tried to stay away from that i like just like keep it nice and light Now, did you read the Keith McNally memoir?

4:15I mean, you mentioned Balthazar. Right. No, I haven't read it. I haven't read it, but I've heard all about it. I've heard all about it. Your father is in the book. Yeah, 100%. The Odeon days. I think your father was the original chef at Odeon, right? Yeah, the opening chef. Opening chef of the Odeon, 1981. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and from painting that picture, from Keith's point of view, brilliant chef. Yep. Difficult personality. Yeah, difficult person. I mean, is that accurate, though? Because I want to give you, and I know this is your father, it's not, and we're not going to talk about your dad that much.

4:44Right. I think it's history. It was the first, you know, African-American chef to win the James Beard Award. Right. It's real, like, legacy. Absolutely. Was that an accurate portrayal? I think it was somewhat of an accurate portrayal. I think that, you know, there's always going to be that, you know, that little bit of discourse between the owners and the chefs. You know, I think that he was, as a chef, he was getting hammered. I think that, you know, he's got, you know, they got to make the loan. They want to make as much money. So I think they're pushing, pushing, pushing as many covers as they can through the restaurant.

5:09And, you know, it can make any chef crazy. I mean, of course. And, like, in the early days, it's Tribeca. Right. And it's, like, kind of a flyer. They don't know if it's going to work. Right. And it does. Like, tremendously successful. I mean, to this day. Right. But back when your dad was running, it's like the early SNL cast is hanging out there. Right. It's like, but it's in Tribeca. And it's abandoned buildings is what I used to hear. I heard there was nothing down there. And so I really, you know, that's, you know, one of the things we talk about around the dinner table. You know, when I was speaking to my mother and we're starting to talk about some of these older days where, you know, I think that it was my father who really started to help create the development of what we call Tribeca now.

5:45Tell me about the dinner table growing up. Your mother is a professional in the culinary world as well as your father. Yeah, absolutely. It's actually one of the greatest stories. You know, my father was a visiting alumni at the New York Technical College in Brooklyn. And my mother was a student. And that's how they ended up getting together, which I always thought was the funniest story. Wow. And, you know, sitting around the dinner table, my mother's a phenomenal cook. She's a fantastic cook. You know, fried chicken, smothered pork chops. You know, she definitely leans into that comfort food.

6:13But, you know, fantastic. Always well-seasoned, always on time, like delicious. Yeah, yeah. What's the conversation like at the table? I know you have several brothers and sisters and siblings, but you've got your father and your mother and yourself, and food must be discussed at the table. I really kind of remember not so much food being discussed, but like the etiquette of dining. That's kind of what we remember. that's kind of what I remember, like, you know, which fork to use, which knife to use, put your napkin in your lap, no elbows on the table, you know, how to place a fork and knife when you were finished.

6:44I definitely remember working on a lot of the dining etiquette for all of my brothers and sisters so that when we did go out to like, you know, Thanksgiving, a tavern on the green, or, you know, when we used to go to a restaurant, he worked in Beverly Hills called Beach A. You know, we were always very well behaved. And, you know, I remember my parents I was always talking about how people were very impressed about how my brothers and sisters were always had pretty good dining etiquette. Oh, my gosh. I mean, was it strict? Was it a strict household? Not crazy strict, but strict nonetheless. Like, you know, I definitely got in trouble for getting an N in conduct one time.

7:16I got in big trouble. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, nothing crazy, but, you know, a very loving household. You know, it was great. You know, ups and downs like any family. And then, you know, obviously when I was around 16, he passed away. Yeah, I mean, it's a tragedy. And Preston, I'm just... Just, I'm sorry. No, that's okay. Yeah, no, it's okay to talk about it. I know it's a long time ago, but still, it's - Yeah, the death of a parent for anybody is, yeah. You're 16 years old and your father passes, and he was 43 years old? 42, yep. 42, just way too young. It's an amazing story, yourself remaining in the industry.

7:50And I want to talk about Tavern on the Green, where your father was the chef, and you got your start there working as a young guy. What's that like, those early shifts? On the pasta station. Really? I started out on the pasta station, you know, and that's when I started learning flipping the pan. And I was there. I don't remember the, I don't definitely remember the name of the cook that I was with. But, you know, and that was the first time I really started to, you know, realize the buzz of a restaurant. You know, Andre Agassi came in and the kitchen was all a buzz. And then, you know, then I had to go back to school and then I would come back.

8:22Then that's when I started on Garmagee. Garmagee station, I started to learn about things like, you know, Parmesan crisps. Wow. And, you know, different salads. and the Parmesan crisps actually are still on the menu at Lourdes to this day on the Kale Caesar. These are the tavern style? Tavern style, yeah. 100 % are on the menu right now at Lourdes Fish Bar. So it was definitely influential, and it was great that I felt like I was kind of able to hold my own as far as not just being like the chef's son walking around the kitchen, being an idiot, doing whatever he wants to do. I was definitely responsible for a station, responsible for mise en place.

8:55I had a prep list. When you were in high school? Yes. This is crazy. I mean, and I would imagine having your chef as a dad probably more difficult for you in some ways. I didn't – I never – you know what? Maybe. Maybe. It depends on that perspective. I never looked at it that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I never looked at it that way. It was always, you know, that fine line between, like I said, being like the chef's son and then actually being like a cook on the station, being responsible for putting things out. You know, you had like the captains that would say, you're doing a very good job up to this point.

9:24And, you know, being – you know, the cooks were like, come on, go, go, go, go, go. You know, you always have to be, you know, you have to make sure you nailed it because, you know, still people paying. Yeah. Pretty expensive, you know, pretty expensive. It's Tavern on the Green. Tavern on the Green, right. You know, glory, glory-er day. Yeah, right, right, right. Warner Leroy. Yeah, yeah, exactly. The Crystal Room, that's not there anymore. Oh, my gosh. This episode is brought to you by Hungry Root. If you listen to the show, you may know that I am a major fan of Hungry Root. I've been a paid, yes, paid subscriber of Hungry Root since 2018 and have had the company's founder, Ben McKean, sit in the studio for a conversation.

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11:25For a limited time, get 40 % off your first box, plus get a free item in your box for life. Go to hungryroot.com slash thisistaste and use code thisistaste. That's hungryroot.com slash thisistaste, code thisistaste, to get 40 % off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. Okay, but your career really does take off. If you go to CIA, you then end up working at Windows on the World, Aqua V, and then John George for years. I mean, all these names, these are great places. Tell me, what's it like working at Windows or Aqua V? Was it under Samuelson at that time? So Aqua V, okay, so I'll give you the abridged version.

12:10Okay. So every summer I would go to work. So I would work. I worked at Tavern on the Green during my summer. 1998 I think that's when my father passed away February 11th 1998 so that summer I ended up working in Chicago at Charlie Trotters oh god you worked at Trotters yeah I worked at Trotters so I worked at Trotters in the line that was probably one of the most intense Windows in the World I worked with Michael Amonico and then Aquavit was with Marcus Samuelson which was my externship at CIA and so I did my externship there at CIA I stayed past my externship and then kind of went back and forth from CIA to work with Marcus on different events graduated CIA I did the bachelor's program and then I took the job at at Jean-Georges and this is the Jean-Georges flagship Jean-Georges flagship for about about six years and then two years at Jojo wow promoted to you rise from Comi all the way to Souchet absolutely started in the Nougatine fish station meat station go upstairs yeah you get you get kicked upstairs kicked upstairs right right the Poissonier Entremetier Saucier and then I got promoted I was sous chef at Jojo.

13:16And Jojo, you were CDC? See, I was, no, sous chef. Sous chef at Jojo. There was a chef named Ron Gallo there. And I worked with Ron. That was a great time. It was like learning how to, you know, work on six burners like that and like having a tiny little space. Jojo was definitely instrumental, I think, in my career, especially just having to work with those flavors, you know, those types of techniques and that amount of space. It's awesome. I mean, JoJo and just John George's sensibility with Asia being really important in the 90s into the 2000s. Very progressive there. Very progressive. Those flavors.

13:49Absolutely. What's it like working under JG? It was amazing. He taught us all kinds of things. He taught us how to incorporate those flavors from Southeast Asia. He taught us the proper techniques. And then he also taught us the lifestyle of how to be a gentleman. how to, you know, how to conduct yourself in the city, how to conduct yourself, you know, around other chefs. It's really, it's really definitely one of the, one of the foundations of my career that we just kind of continue that. I think it's the camaraderie with other chefs. It's how you interact with your, with, you know, like your management style, how you interact with your, the people that work for you and how you just kind of conduct yourself in the city as a, as a, as a chef in New York city.

14:31It's, you know, I remember when we were coming up, he used to say, oh you guys should be pampered and now i think that i don't think we're getting pampered now but we're just we have a good amount of respect i think definitely that's we have a good amount of respect and we you know i owe that to john george and how to how we conduct ourselves with our with our colleagues with our staff with our customers right the the career the the job as a chef right is a professionalized industry it's it's so like treat each other like professionals It's not just something you get a job in the back of the yellow, you know.

15:03Right. Just back and yelling and throwing and like, you know, those are those horror stories that you hear in the 90s of, you know, somebody throwing a bowl of risotto across the kitchen. Yeah, that doesn't happen. So, JG, this is not the culture in the kitchen even in the 90s? No, I guess because I was there a little in like in the early 2000s. Definitely not. I mean, it was definitely it was definitely very strict. There was definitely an element of cutthroat. Like there was definitely, you know, an element of, you know, sink or swim, you know, be like thrown to the wolves. but you were given guidance.

15:32You had to follow the recipe. You had to know how to read the recipe. You had to shut your mouth and keep your head down. You had to show up for work. There was very little tolerance. But all of those trials that you go through help with time management. Yeah. Right? And so that's kind of like the, that's ultimately what happens. And then you're able to just kind of manage and then execute. Yeah, time management is, it's insane to think about a chef's day. Let me tell you. Sorry. We were at a few weeks ago and just watching this. It was like 2 p.m. It was late lunch. And like you're still just so jammed in that.

16:08Yeah, we're rocking and rolling for sure. It's cool. Yeah, we open up at 1130 and then, you know, we close at 1130. So those 12 hours. It's a beautiful place. Thank you. I have such good memories there. And really your food is terrific. I cannot let you go without asking about Resto and the Cannibal. Great restaurants. Yeah, they were great. Was huge fans, you know, of Christian and the team there. Yeah, Christian, Papa Nicholas. I was working with my friend Corey Lane then. Yeah. It was a great time then. I was just, I was coming from California. I just opened up for Sammy Hagar and Tyler Florence.

16:43So fun. Yeah. I got a James Beard nomination out of that restaurant in California. And then it was just, it was just time to go. I had a new son. I came back to New York to be a little bit closer to family. And I took over Resto and the Candle from Bobby. Helen. Bobby Helen, yeah. Shout out to Bobby. Shout out to Bobby. No, one of my favorite people in food. Yeah, great guy. I still don't touch with Bobby. Yeah, great guy. Yeah. And so that was a great time because I was still doing a lot of meat then, and that was a very heavy meat restaurant. And that was really definitely one of the first times that I really got a chance to cook whole animals.

17:18Yeah. And I was able to take the whole pig or the whole goat or the whole lamb and put it into like a combi oven and roast the whole thing. or break it down. We had these things called feasts and we would break it down and I could do a bunch of different things with all of the different pieces of the animal. So it would be like pig ear salad, you know, and then we would cut the pork chops. It was great. I mean, this era, it's like this nose to tail cooking is really, really super hot at that moment. And like Resto was super progressive. 100%, man. I was making beef heart tartare at one point. Yeah.

17:52It's funny, you don't see any of that anymore. No, no, no. We never see a pig's ear salad. Right. Maybe in like Greenville, South Carolina, they'll do it. But like not in New York City. Not here in the city. Maybe you might find it in Brooklyn. Yeah, maybe. You might find it in Brooklyn. But yeah, that was definitely a progressive time with some of the things that we were doing with Nose to Tail at that time. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun to be so creative. Yeah. And to just have that outlet of creativity to just figure out all the different things that we were going to present.

18:21And people loved it. People loved it. Yeah, I was one of the people. Yeah, people loved it. I was definitely - The Cannibal also. The Cannibal, that was the first time I was making my own sausage. So we had a big sausage stuffer. We would make our own marguese. We would make our own Italian sausage. It was - Triples and doubles, beers. I mean, all the great beers. Yeah, beers all over the place. Craft beers from all over the world. And definitely right on the cusp of the domestic craft beer scene, but also the European style. I mean, I remember lines going out the door for some special beer that we had that no one could ever get.

18:51Yeah, yeah. Christian really had that knack. Yeah, 100%. I thought we could bring some memories of Resto and the Cannibal. All right, let's talk about Bar Mercer and Lure. I mean, you're running these places. There's like A-list hanging out. Yeah, 100%. Like Duois is covering Lure often. Yeah. So, Preston, what's it like running the show of a place where you get like real celebrities, not like bullshit celebrities that come in and want to feel at home, but they've got paparazzi? It's a unique dynamic. It feels a little more L.A. than New York. Right. But I think that's a problem. I mean, I think it's still very much a New York restaurant in the sense that, you know, I think that, you know, we're very much respected in the culinary industry, which has always been a huge thing for me.

19:32I wanted to make sure that we maintained, you know, the respect of my peers, not just like some throwaway flash in the pan kind of restaurant. That was always very important to me. Other than that, we try to accommodate everybody the best that we can. You know, sometimes celebrities have a couple of extra things, but it kind of reminds me of this thing that Drew Nipporn said is that every customer that he knows that kind of sent this, They were kind of like assholes in the beginning. And that's how they became like these regular customers because they demanded some sort of a special attention.

19:59So we do the best that we can to accommodate everybody who comes through our doors. And it's great. It is pretty cool that we get to have some of those A-list guys and I'm able to make some good friends with them. Who's been hanging out recently? Just give us some names. Oh, boy. So it's a wide breadth of celebrities that come in there. Most recently I had Pete Rock. They're from Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth. C.L. Smooth, man. Yeah. Chris Rock comes in often. Dave Chappelle comes in often. Obviously, I met Justin Bieber there. Yeah. One time, Jill Biden came. Yeah. So we get a really wide breadth of celebrities that come in.

20:33And, you know, and we also have our regulars that come in two, three times a week, four times a week. What are the regulars ordering? Oh, man. Because I know you, like, Lure is, you can have just, it can be a Japanese restaurant. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you can just go there and have, like, basically an omakase or at least have a bunch of great. You can definitely have an omakase at lunch. We have an omakase at lunch, yeah. I think some may think of it as the lobster roll place and the place of doing New England seafood, but I think of it as Japanese more. Right. So we have the raw bar, so you can have the big wide assortment of raw bar.

21:06I get about six to eight different types of oysters coming from the East Coast and the West Coast. Yeah. Obviously, we have our sushi program on the right-hand side in the back of the dining room there, and that's a full sushi program. Yeah, yeah. You can pretty much get your nigiri, you have your sashimi. The chef will do an omakase for you if you like. I get a lot of the cool things from like Hokkaido, the scallops that come from Hokkaido, the uni that comes from either Hokkaido or Santa Barbara. So that's fun to be able to get to play with those ingredients. And then the main kitchen, like you said, we have some of the New England style, like New England style clam chowder.

21:41We have the lobster roll, which I'm actually doing both styles now. I'm doing Maine and Connecticut, which is great. And then I have some of the dishes that people do come back for. There's a stuffed lobster dish that I make, a two-pound stuffed lobster that's got like a seafood stuffing. There are people that return for that quite often. The sea urchin bucatini, the uni bucatini is a big one that people, the pasta that people come in for a lot at Lohr. And, you know, it's great. It's great. And the same thing kind of happens at Bar Mercer. It's definitely a newer restaurant. I mean, you know, I guess it was been there.

22:15It's been a couple iterations for it, a couple iterations of it. But now it's cool that we've been open for about a year. And so now there are dishes that are staples there that people really return for. Like there's a hamachi dish with like a salsa verde and like a white balsamic vinaigrette that people come back for. The hangover pasta, again, is another one with the egg. That's actually a dish that gets its inspiration from Resto. Yeah? Yeah, with the egg on top, it was a take on like a carbonara-type Belgian dish. breakfast style carbonara. Yeah, breakfast style carbonara. It's funny. I was reading some press about Bar Mercer and some people have calling it the Red Hook Tavern of Manhattan.

22:52Yeah, a little bit. Hilarious to think of like a restaurant in Manhattan can be compared to like a Red Hook restaurant. Listen, if it could be a restaurant like that, Red Hook Tavern is an awesome restaurant. No, I love Red Hook Tavern. Yeah. I think it's a compliment of course. Yeah, absolutely. Downtown, like this tavern where you can get great beverage service and this kind of like comfort food that's not too coyly heavy. Right. You know? That's the point. We were really trying to make the restaurant feel like it's been there forever. It's got a little bit of a 90s feel to it, but we really wanted to make it a neighborhood spot where people can come and dine a couple times a week.