Whatever else you set out, great smoked salmon will always draw a crowd. It works well with all of the supporting players, from horseradish cream to egg salad.

For something new, try an Italian purée of white beans—it’s just as creamy and much faster.

Try this modern spin on steamed mussels. Garam masala is the wild card here, contributing an unexpected depth of curry flavor to the mussels.

Smoked sable is as moist as smoked salmon, but with a voluptuous silkiness. To balance its sea-saltiness, top it with beets and watercress.

Chef Barry Wine's iconic dish is the bite-size beggars’ purse. We’ ve turned it into a first course and added chives and brown butter to the crêpe batter.

The spirit of Japan comes through in this dish: It is lovely to behold and has a delicate, light quality, yet the extraordinary flavors will seize your attention with the culinary equivalent of surround...

Since the papaya is “preserved” in sugar, this is unusually sweet for a first course, and it could be an intermezzo or part of a tasting menu.

Nothing could be easier than stirring together chopped scallions with a dollop of mayonnaise, adding considerable verve and oniony bite to meaty arctic char fillets.

Ginger and cilantro add Southeast Asian oomph to this French-style butter sauce, which lightly coats big, meaty shrimp.