Strawberries In Arkansas, Spring Is Really Here.

An ode to the first crop of full-on spring in The Natural State, where to pick them and where to eat them in the wonderful concoction of strawberry shortcake.

On the subject of cold summer salads.

When the weather turns nasty hot like this, the idea of a hot meal at noontime can be oppressive, maybe even nauseating. The foods we love in the middle of winter aren’t meant for summertime consumption; very few people are going to go out looking for hot pumpkin soup or hot chocolate this time of year.

Cold summer salads, especially here in the South, make up for this. Kept in the icebox (that’s fridge to you youngsters), mixed salads of everything from potatoes to tuna to Jell-O can be made in advance and served up on one’s preferred bread quickly and without a heck of a lot of work. The body stays cool when cool food is ingested.

• KAT ROBINSON

I have a few favorites when it comes to cold salads around here. Mentioned Taziki’s a while back for its pimento cheese (CBG and Gibb’s Grocery as well) — which fits the definition of a summer salad.

• KAT ROBINSON

• KAT ROBINSON

I know I talked aboutOW Pizzarecently; their tuna salad with capers is salty and savory. A little extra saltiness is a good thing with sandwich salads — makes you drink more, which is what you should be doing during summer anyway. The potato salad there with its heavy dose of dill is always a winner in my book.

• KAT ROBINSON

Now I’ve been introduced to the chicken salad at Trio’s. Here’s a chicken salad that doesn’t have to be sweet to be a treat. Tarragon heavy, the chicken and walnut salad has a hearty zing to it that gives it heft.

• KAT ROBINSON

Trio’s is also doing something I haven’t seen at any other restaurant in a long time. When you order a chicken salad plate you get banana nut bread with cream cheese — that’s not too unusual — and a bing cherry Jell-O. Jell-O. An upscale restaurant in Little Rock is serving Jell-O. But it works. The real cherries in the dark cherry flavored gelatin is somehow soothing, taking on the whole comfort food ideal. I dig it.

So, what’s your favorite cold summer salad? Tuna? Pimento? Chicken? Potato? Who serves up your favorite?

Pieday: Raspberry Cream Cheese at Trio's.

I’ve been taking recommendations for places where I should go to experience the best pies in the state. And when the boss tells you to try a pie, you go try a pie, right?

The suggestion was the Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie over at Trio’s.