Pierino is right. Don't mess with the tried and true. Leave the fancy-shmancy seared ahi to the five star hotels that overcharge.

The key thing to remember about salad nicoise is that the real thing is made with really good, olive oil packed tuna. In the 90's there was this fad for making it with pan seared ahi tuna. In some benighted burgs this fad carries on. Some people refuse to grow up. The oil packed tuna is the essence of the salad. Ortiz is a very good label with wide distribution in the USA. Their best quality is "ventresca" which is the equivalent of the Japanese "toro" except that it's jarred or packed in a can.

Another tasty one is "Not Quite Nicoise," http://food52.com/recipes/17798-not-quite-nicoise-with-lime-chive-cream

And there are lots more. Just type "nicoise" in the Search box in upper right of screen, choose "In Recipes" as the search category, and click the magnifying glass to search.

Were you looking for a recipe? Here's one: http://food52.com/recipes/6162-nicoise-salad