Do whatever you want between now and Friday.

Call your aunt just because.

Belatedly get around to watching The Revenant.

Hell, declare your candidacy for president for all we care.

All we ask is that you kindly refrain from ingesting any Chinese food.

Save that honor for Imperial Lamian—a stunning piece of restaurant engineering whose only wish is to make the best damn Asian comestibles you’ll ever put in your mouth, opening Friday in River North.

Step inside this slideshow and take stock of your surroundings. If you’re near the front desk, you’re standing on laser-cut Carrara marble, staring up at those funky birdcage lights. They were going to use traditional Chinese lanterns, but, well... River North.

Maybe settle in at the bar first with a glass of Japanese whiskey. Or better yet, the Kavalan single malt from Taiwan. It’s surprisingly, unbelievably good.

Now, you could always bunker down for dinner in their date-friendly semiprivate dining room. But where you really want to be is at a table lining the open kitchen, watching some highly talented chefs craft your Szechuan peppercorn soup dumplings, dim sum, crispy duck and hand-pulled lamian noodles.

You can actually see their hands doing the pulling.