Where can you find a brilliant French chef turning out the best steaks in a relaxed, comfortable and classically New York ambience? It’s a no-brainer: Nick + Stef’s Steakhouse & Bar (9 Penn Plaza at Madison Square Garden) is a revelation for its quality, service and attention to detail.

The French chef lurking behind the scenes is Jean Christophe Villard, formerly the executive chef at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan. Villard took over as executive chef at Nick + Stef’s in December; his cooking style is a melting pot of French-trained technical skill and an understanding of the American craving for beef in prodigious quantities.

You won’t find T-bone steaks on a menu at a fine restaurant in Paris, said Villard, formerly the chef/owner of the famous French bistro L’Ambrosia in the 17th arr. in Paris. The cuts of meat in France are different simply because of the way the beef is butchered and the sensibility of the French restaurant patron, but the preparation is still determined by the universality of flavor — and that means following the traditional method of searing the steak, slicing it, putting it back on the plate, adding clarified butter, and finishing it in the broiler.

Now, when I talk about adding butter I’m not endorsing allowing the meat to swim in butter like the way it’s served at Ruth Chris Steakhouse; I just brush the steak with butter to give it a gloss and sheen and to enhance — not obscure — its natural flavor.

A NIGHT OUT ON THE TOWN One thing you need to know about Nick + Stef’s is that it is a New York institution that is struggling against the economic chaos of hitching the wagon to the ups and downs of the Madison Square Garden eco-foodchain.

Chef Jean Christophe Villard

When the New York Knicks are in town, for instance, people flock into the restaurant for pre-and-post-game steak dinners. When the New York Rangers still played hockey — in a golden age before a bunch of greedy idiots decided to bring hockey — and its fans — to the brink of desperation, business was very, very good. Hockey fans are more corporate and flush with cash than the blue-collar types who go to Knick games. Suffice it to say that the NHL lockout has been bad for business.

Fernando Heredia, the director and genial host at Nick + Stef, has kept everything moving in a positive direction — despite the decline in beef-loving hockey fans on game nights from October-April. It has been a struggle to stay competitive, and yet the quality of our food and its consistency has allowed us to attract repeat customers, said Heredia. I pray that the New York Rangers will return to the ice next season.

MENU HIGHLIGHTS All I can tell you is that pound-for-pound the steaks and chops are as good as any restaurant in the US — and that includes Peter Luger’s in Brooklyn and Gibson’s in Chicago.

My favorite appetizers are the crabmeat cake ($14), as fresh as what you’d expect to sample in any crab shack in Maryland’s Eastern Shore; the iced oysters and clams ($2.50 each); and the daily soup specials — a cream of asparagus ($7) had just the right amount of fresh cream, black pepper and straight-from-farm-to-table freshness of the green asparagus.

Steak dinner at Nick + Stef’s

My favorite beef options at Nick + Stef’s are the porterhouse steak for two ($39 per person), which is also the pet project of Villard: With a porterhouse you get the beauty of both the filet and the sirloin — clearly, this is the best of all worlds for a steak lover. I also recommend the NY boneless sirloin steak ($29 for the 12 oz. and $34 for the 16 oz.) for its exquisite flavor and you-can-cut-it-with-a-fork tenderness.

If you don’t want a steak, check out the Colorado-ranch raised lamb chops. I don’t like New Zealand lamb and will never buy it for the restaurant, said Villard. My goal is to be honest with the New Yorkers who frequent the restaurant, to serve the best food in a comfortable dining room, and to keep Nick + Stef’s thriving in the competitive world of NY steakhouses.

In a world of uncertainty and cutthroat restaurant competition, Nick + Stef’s is that all-too-rare sure thing.