Instructions: One of the great things about being an American means being able to reinvent yourself - even if youre everyones favorite picnic side dish, potato salad.

Not that we dont love the tried-and-true version, a giant scoop of mayonnaise-slathered old potatoes, crunchy with bits of celery and frequently smoothed out with bits of hard-cooked eggs; or that other classic, the German-style salad, glossy with oil and vinegar and flecked with never-enough bits of crisp bacon.

But for the same reason Mr. Potato Head occasionally needs a makeover, its fun to play around with the standards. For chefs and home cooks everywhere, the potato salad you grew up with is what determines your preference. A survey of Chicago chefs reveals how the cold spud has heated up.

"I totally grew up with the creamy thing," chef Susan Goss said of her salad days. "No eggs, though; my mother was totally against eggs in potato salad, so that was a new thing when my friends pulled that on me."

But as a chef, Goss has turned to lighter dressings, dressing up the tubers with a citrus vinaigrette - a blend of orange, lemon and lime juices - seasoned with fresh mint, that she calls "really light and refreshing, really summery."

Executive chef Greg Lutes was used to German potato salad as a kid. But now Lutes serves his cool potatoes with cucumbers, fresh dill and cider vinegar dressing alongside soft-shell crabs. Another of Lutes summer salads features high-society spuds tossed with summer truffles and truffle oil.

For chef Barry Rosenstein, a mayonnaise-based salad works with both Mediterranean and Asian ingredients.

"Ill make the mayonnaise myself and flavor it with saffron and roasted garlic or black olive puree or sun-dried tomatoes," he said. "Even a little sambal oelek (an Asian chili sauce) or some vegetables - anything to give it a little texture."

Or, like executive chef Michael Dean Hazen, you can make the dressing even more luxurious by mixing up equal parts mayonnaise and creme fraiche. Then he throws in eggs, capers, celery, red onion, mustard, parsley and some chopped arugula or watercress to doll up the dish he serves alongside the restaurants buttermilk fried chicken.

Goss says experimenting is even more rewarding, especially now that there are such wonderful potato varieties. "I only use yellow potatoes and fingerlings," she said. "The potatoes themselves have such great simplicity and flavor."

Potatoes are such versatile vegetables that theres no point in arguing over which way is the best potato salad. At home, you can have fun by adding color with purple or sweet potatoes. Two-bite fingerling potatoes are another favorite, especially when dressed with a sparkling vinaigrette and fresh herbs.

The steakhouse classic - a bacon, sour cream and chive baked potato - can be copied for a cold picnic salad. The ingredients that make up a lively curried chicken salad also work beautifully mixed with sweet potatoes. And for a whole meal salad, tuna fish, green beans, tomatoes and olives add plenty of flavor to summer spuds.

Stick with the old favorites if you like, but there are plenty of ways to play a new potato salad game. Whatever makes you happy - because, as chef Hazen said, "When I think of the summer and American comfort food, I think of potato salad."

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