Meet Me in Lisbon is a Portuguese-inspired August dinner built around ripe produce, pimento, garlic, olive oil, grilled meats, warm spice, and the bold, sunny flavors that connect Lisbon with influences from the Algarve and Alentejo.

We start with a Lemon Balm Mint Tonic made with wildflower honey, green peppercorn, and sparkling water. It’s cool and herbaceous with just enough sweetness, plus a fresh peppery edge that wakes everything up before the first course.

The first course is a Watermelon Summer Salad with heirloom tomatoes, salty cheese, olives, onion, and molho verde. The watermelon and tomatoes are lightly dressed with red wine vinegar and olive oil, then layered over the bright green herb sauce and finished with rustic garlic migas for crunch. It’s juicy, savory, briny, herbal, and built to taste like much more than a simple tomato and watermelon salad.

Next is Pimento Charred Octopus with tender potato, roasted potato pieces, blistered shishito peppers, and a creamy pepper, potato, and garlic purée. The octopus gets deeply charred and finished with pimento and garlic, while the different potato textures make the plate creamy, savory, and satisfying without becoming heavy.

Our Grilled Portuguese Sausage is a mild, garlicky pork sausage served in a thin coil over tomato sofrito and a buttery Jersey corn ragout. The corn is cooked until creamy and spoonable, with additional corn for texture, giving the smoky sausage something sweet and rich to play against without bringing extra heat.

For the main, Piri-Piri Chicken features juicy chicken thighs glazed with peach, honey, garlic, lemon, and piri-piri chile until sticky and caramelized around the edges. It’s served with basmati rice, wilted Tuscan kale, and fresh herbs.

Coffee Ice Cream Cake closes the night with layers of coffee ice cream and dark chocolate cake, finished with toasted almond for crunch. It’s cold, creamy, deeply chocolatey, and just bitter enough from the coffee to keep the final bite from becoming overly sweet.