This is part of a series of posts about Chicago Restaurant Week 2018, held January 26–February 8. View all of this year’s meal recaps, or browse all Restaurant Week coverage from 2013–2018.

Rye Toast with beet-cured salmon, beet cream cheese, and dill (Seinfeld, “The Rye,” Season 7, Episode 11)

Best Bite: Chef Zoe Schor built a tradition of themed Restaurant Week menus in past years at her previous restaurant, Ada Street: female chefs in 2014 and famous last meals in 2015. So she continued the tradition at Split-Rail this year with two five-course menu options: one inspired by Seinfeld, the other inspired by Friends. We shared both sets of dishes, and most of my favorites were on the Seinfeld side – especially luscious beet-cured salmon atop rye toast (to commemorate the episode when Jerry stole a loaf of marbled rye from an elderly woman). On the Friends side, I really liked the winter squash tartlet, inspired by an episode where “tartlet” is repeated over and over by a chef under the influence during Monica’s job interview with him. It was almost like a mini pumpkin pie, but more savory with creme fraiche and pumpkin seeds.

Winter Squash Tartlet with creme fraiche and toasted pepitas (Friends, “The One With the Stoned Guy,” Season 1, Episode 15

The Butter Shave cocktail with dark rum, butterscotch, and baking spices (Seinfeld, “The Butter Shave”, Season 9, Episode 1)

Other notes: The theme extended all the way to the cocktails, with a spin on hot buttered rum to represent the Seinfeld episode where Kramer shaved his face with butter. And it’s not a Seinfeld dinner without a Soup Nazi reference, so we had to try the crab bisque, which had a pleasantly high proportion of crabmeat to broth. So there was, indeed, soup for us.

Crab bisque with oyster crackers (Seinfeld, “The Soup Nazi,” Season 7, Episode 6

The details: Split-Rail, 2500 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago.