Salmon | A review

In the past month are so, I have had salmon at three different restaurants (Mother's Day, Wildfire, and Nonna D's). I love salmon.

All of these salmons were made differently, mostly safe and none too adventurous. So, if you're in the area and looking for salmon, I've got some recommendations for any eater. I'm not one for flavors on either extreme end of the spectrum (that is, I can't handle spice but I do need flavor). I enjoyed each of the salmon dishes, and finished all three before leaving the restaurants, and have rated each, in order of preference.

3. Mother's Day on Cermak (North Riverside) - Broiled Salmon:

The broiled salmon is served with rice, potatoes, and vegetables, succeeding a choice of soup or salad.

Overall, the salmon was good, and I would definitely order it again.

The rice was over-salted, but still edible; the potatoes were under-salted. Neither the potato nor the vegetable mix stood out over the salmon.

I chose to put the broiled salmon in last place because it was generally unmemorable, besides it being tender and enjoyable moist. On the Dysh app, a food-rating and -reviewing app for your phone, I did award the dish a 90/100.

RATING: 5/10 

Harambe | A response

Yes, the mother should have been watching. The gorilla should have acted like the female gorilla at Brookfield* in 1996. The zoo should have had a better and stronger separation between the public and animals. The child should have known better not to have gotten into the exhibit. Et cetera.

Parent's can't possibly watch their children every second of the day; I have certainly gotten out of view of people in charge of me when I was younger, and am lucky nothing happened. Gorillas are animals; they act instinctually, they do not have the morals we do and think not to hurt children specifically, and they will have differing reactions based on gender instincts (see: Disney's 1999 Tarzan, Kala vs Kerchak and their first reactions to baby Tarzan; Kala wants to protect him, like Brookfield's gorilla; Kerchak does not see him as part of his family). The zookeepers are more experienced in handling animals than we are; they knew this was the right call in the moment and still stand by it; think of their loss, too, of a beautiful animal whom they knew very well and for longer and better than any visitors.

This is a horrible loss of an endangered creature, yes. It is right to feel poorly that the zoo had to kill him. We need to remember, however, that trying to tranquilize him before he killed (intentionally or otherwise) the child on his own would have taken too long to act, angering him, and possibly directly causing the child's death. We can miss Harambe, we can mourn Harambe, but we cannot place malicious blame on the zoo, the mother, or anyone else.

Instead, see the zoo makes better effort at making sure small children cannot fit through any opening that could lead them to enclosures. Instead, donate to help the protection of silverback gorillas and other endangered animals, such as through the WWF** or to zoological societies. Instead, look for future solutions, rather than blame.

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* Watch the video of a gorilla saving a toddler (Washington Post).

** Adopt an animal through the World Wildlife Fund.