Back in the old days, aka a year ago, my blog posts were predominantly restaurant reviews. Today they are mostly recipes, wine and cocktail reviews. I work, cook, bake and drink wine. This is now my entire life.

I have been reminiscing the old days and which restaurants I miss, my favorite dishes from those restaurants and that feeling of being in a busy noisy restaurant and loving every minute of it. I honestly cannot even imagine it now given how nervous we all feel when large groups of people we don’t know stands to close.

One of my favorite Chicago restaurants is The Smith in River North. I have been a frequent diner of The Smith since moving to Chicago and have been a loyal diner throughout our almost year of Covid. Whether during the 25% indoor dining where I could sit along the open window lines or ordering pick-up. They have also done a nice job of tenting and heat lamps in our cold months. I have on occasion braved the bitter cold weather by wrapping up and sitting under warmth. The Smith truly knows how to take care of their diners. Always friendly, ready for a laugh, even in our dark days and always attentive to everyone.

Almost every time I visit whether alone or with a friend the spicy salmon tartare is always ordered and it never fails to delight. An almost mousse like citrusy, sriracha spiced salmon is piled on top of creamy avocado atop a crispy bite-sized rice cake. This appetizer is the perfect finger food bite with just a little intensity of heat. An extra teeny slice of jalapeno decorates the top of the bite if you want to add even more heat, which I tend to want. When the day comes, which I hope it does, I can’t wait to go back to bar dining for an after work glass of wine and a salmon tartare bite. This appetizer is absolutely worthy of Fab Dish Friday!