Big changes are in the works at Cindy’s, the rooftop restaurant at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel. The dining room is changing, the food is being switched up, and, oh yeah, the chef is about to be a food TV star yet again. Let’s break it all down.

When Cindy’s opened almost a decade ago, the main concept was communal dining. Huge tables creaked under even huger dishes, many of which were meant for sharing between four to six diners. The food was solid (and the cocktail program was a particular pleasure), but Cindy’s never really became a culinary destination, partly because of the crowd-pleasing but not particularly interesting menu and partly because of the constant stream of tourists crowding the bar area trying to get a glimpse of the gorgeous view.

All of that is changing. Last year, without a ton of fanfare at the time, chef Kaleena Bliss took over the kitchen at Cindy’s. Bliss moved to Chicago from Seattle, but many Chicagoans likely recognize her from her status as a Chopped Grand Champion. She immediately started to revamp the menu, but slowly, just a couple of dishes at a time. Fast forward to this spring, and the entire menu has turned over, and the dining room is coming next, with plans to have that completed by early March.

Bliss’s food is more refined and seasonal than the previous menu, and while many dishes lend themselves to sharing between dates, they definitely aren’t meant for a crowd. The room will change to reflect this, with a focus on a more intimate dining experience — it’s hard to take a romantic date to a restaurant where you might be sitting elbow to elbow with four other couples. The bar area is also being redesigned, with a more defined barrier between the bar and dining room, preventing happy hour spillovers.

The new dishes at Cindy’s showcase bold flavors, with a hint of playfulness. A whole fried branzino, crispy and savory, comes to the table completely intact, with guests invited to pick it apart and turn it into lettuce wraps with an assortment of Korean-style banchan. Bliss reports that while a few diners have been freaked out by the dish, one couple loved it so much that nothing came back except the spine; they picked it completely clean.

Salmon carpaccio is a wonderful combination of savory and spicy, topped with pear aguachile, dill, and pickled shallots. A crowd favorite is the king crab and lobster salad topped with a pile of herbs and resting on a bed of a ginger soy aioli; a healthy, yet indulgent dish that is sure to enter my regular lunchtime rotation. Bliss isn’t the only one making waves in the Cindy’s kitchen; pastry chef Zach Petrusa is adding new items to the dessert list, including a delightful take on a Mont Blanc made with purple sweet potato, maple, and a sweet-salty soy sauce that is almost impossible to stop eating.

The revamp of Cindy’s isn’t the only big news for Bliss; a couple of weeks ago, it was announced that she would be one of the competitors on the next season of Top Chef, based in Milwaukee. Bliss wouldn’t hint at how things went in the competition but given her culinary skill and experience in competition-based television, I suspect she’s going to do well, which will make Cindy’s an even hotter ticket come summer. The new season, which also features Chicago chef Alisha Elenz, starts on March 20.