***Update***Seattle Met magazine named Stateside 2015 restaurant of the year.

I am lucky to be surrounded by a group of fun and food-loving friends. Once a month, we pick a new restaurant to meet up.  Not everyone can make it every time, but with about 6 to 9 people, we can order pretty much every dish off the menu, perfect for trying a new place in town.

  

Stateside’s chef Eric Johnson has an impressive bio.  Having traveled all over the world, and trained with Michelin starred chef such as Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, he landed in Seattle and opened this French-Vietnamese restaurant.

The menu is organized by various plate sizes: small, medium, large and sides.

For small plates, we ordered both Crispy duck fresh rolls and Crispy mushroom fresh rolls:

The rolls are wrapped with basil, cilantro, Vietnamese spearmint, lemon balm and shiso leaves.  There was a thin layer of crispy sheet in the middle, making it fun to bite into. Continue reading “Stateside” →