Ken Burns is famous for documenting battles. Now he’s joined one.
Lure Fishbar has been a staple in New York’s Soho neighborhood for 20 years, and local Burns is campaigning to save it from being turned into a Prada eatery.
The legendary filmmaker’s TV producer daughter, Lilly, introduced him to the restaurant and “it became mine,” he recently told Timm Chiusano on his “Longwinded by Nature” podcast.
Burns is among a long list of famous names, including Cindy Crawford, Chris Rock and Justin Theroux, rallying to prevent the fashion house — which already inhabits the upstairs space — from taking over the subterranean seafood and sushi restaurant on the corner of Prince and Mercer St when its lease runs out in 2026.
Burns said the idea that Lure would be forced out to make way for Prada Cafe has been “so anxiety producing.”
“This place is so sui generous,” he said, further explaining the Latin phrase meaning “of its own kind.”
“There’s no other thing… You can’t replace it. It’s not duplicatable. It’s not moveable. It’s not transferrable,” he added. (Katie Couric co-signed the sentiment, by reposting his interview.)
“The Civil War” filmmaker, 71, and his youngest daughter, Willa,14, dine there “at least once a week” whenever they’re in town, he said.
Watching her seafood palette evolve since she was 4 has been one of his fondest memories at the eatery. For example, he often orders the miso glazed salmon, “and after a while, she would take a bite of it, then half of it, then she’s ordering it for herself!,” he said of Willa’s Lure appetite through the years.
The Post’s Steve Cuzzo broke the news that Prada, who leases about 20,000 square feet in the 176,000 square-foot office and retail building, has been eyeing Lure’s basement space for their Prada-branded cafe, Pasticceria Marchesi.
A prominent broker, who is not involved with the building, told The Post, It’s “all but a done deal. Prada has four times more space than Lure, and [landlord] Peter Brant isn’t likely to say no.”
Burn encourages Prada to “understand – outside of a calculated business decision – what it might mean to rip the soul out of Soho… Please don’t do it,” he said.
Owner John McDonald told Page Six he is still optimistic about working out a deal with Prada and is grateful for all the support the restaurant has been getting.
“Hearing how Ken B put the drama into perspective was quite surreal, from such a legendary story-teller to weigh in. I am thankful to say the least,” he said.
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