Sandy Ingber

I introduced this recipe to the Oyster Bar in the early 1990s. We serve about 12 gallons of it every day.

This dish is the result of a kind of friendly competition I had with my friend Jeremy Marshall of Aquagrill restaurant in downtown Manhattan. We wanted to develop crusts for salmon: His is falafel, mine is hummus. The lemon oil will be best if you start it a day ahead, so there's time for the flavors to mature.

Ipswich whole belly clams are steamers that have been removed from their shells and had the necks and membranes removed. And while you can get Ipswich clams from Ipswich, Massachusetts—where we get ours—these days the majority of whole belly clams come from Maine. Never substitute "clam strips" for whole belly clams. Clam strips come from surf clams, and they’ll be very tough if you fry them. This recipe is for a main-dish serving. If you want to serve these clams as an appetizer, reduce the quantities by half.

This may be more of a rémoulade than a tartar sauce, but we've been making it this way since I came to the Oyster Bar. Has it changed at all since 1974? There's no way for me to know—but I doubt it. Be sure the hard-cooked egg and potato are cold when you make this.