Welcome to New York, 2018 James Beard Best Chef: Great Lakes Award winner, Abe Conlon.

Sure, we'll let you cook us dinner...

It's a forthcoming date night that'll happen at Chefs Club—the Soho corner spot that likes to welcome top-notch chefs into its space for short and sweet residencies. Conlon's started last night, and will run through mid-October. The time to make your reservation is now.

But first, a little bit about the man of the hour/two months. He hails from Chicago's Fat Rice: a concept that focuses on Conlon's Portuguese roots, it combines the techniques and ingredients from Portugal, Brazil, Africa, India and China... and its won the team a slot in Bon Appetit's Top 10 Best Restaurants in America. Accolades, accolades.

In lieu of making it to said restaurant, all you've got to do is get yourself to Soho. Bring a date. Try some curried pork dumplings; the Macau-style Eight Treasure Chicken stuffed with sticky rice, Chinese bacon and sausage, dried scallops, pine nuts and candied citrus; and/or the Brazilian-style cheeseburger topped with fried egg, heart of palm, corn relish and more (they call it "Xtudo" in Brazil, which roughly translates to "everything with cheese," in case you'd like to lay a fun fact on your date). Portuguese wine is the move, as they've got a hell of a lot of solid options to pair with the above.

And you'll want to hang out afterwards—the private dining room's been transformed into something they're calling The Ladies' Room, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar that feels all too similar to a 19th century opium den in Macau's red-light district. You know the type.

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