Stateside (Softly) Opens on Black Friday

This is getting a little nutty. If you're keeping score, within the next week the following restaurants are planning to open around town: Cantina Lena on 5th and Lenora. Manolin on Stone Way. Lark and Bitter/Raw in Capitol Hill. And now, Eric Johnson confirms that Stateside will start taking walk-ins for dinner on Black Friday.

Johnson is aiming for "very faithful recreations" of traditional Vietnamese dishes on the menu, including cha ca la vong (marinated black cod with tumeric and galangal) and bún cha (grilled pork and noodles.) Expect plenty of meat (chili cumin pork ribs) and vegetables options.

"We're still working out the kinks for sure," the chef tells Eater. He'd originally planned to set an official launch date, but says, "everything came together in an uncontrolled fashion and has been happening organically, so we're opening this weekend."