Stateside

[zeffer81]

I've been to Stateside three times so far and just love it. It fills a niche in the East Passyunk neighborhood with their high-end small plates and thoughtful cocktail list. Their food and alcohol are all local (get it: Stateside?) and the bartenders are great about recommending a local version of your favorite booze.

A few of my favorite dishes have been the braised beef cheeks, duck sausage and pork belly. I thought I had pictures to post but I'll have to upload them later.

Bottom line, Executive Chef George Sabatino (formerly of Barbuzzo) is having tons of fun in the kitchen at Stateside and you can tell.

[mrbigjas]

Agreed. Nice whiskey selection too.

[Tim Dolan]

I'm going tonight with two friends. Word is that it's a pretty small place. Would it be better for us to go at 7 or 9?

[Tim Dolan]

Went on Friday with 3 other people and managed to grab 4 bar seats just as 4 other people were moving from the bar to a table. Really great place, as Zeffer mentioned. It's a small but lively, comfortable place where everything is done really, really well.

Between the 4 of us we almost hit the whole damn menu and there was not a single miss out of the whole bunch. We had oysters, red beets, cheddar and blue cheeses, brussel sprouts, steak tartare, skate wing, scallops, clams with sausage and duck fat potatoes, the duck sausage, and the pork belly. That sounds like a lot but only the clams were one of the larger plates. The oysters, scallops, duck sausage and pork belly were all fantastic and everything else was at least very good.

We all had a few well made cocktails and a few glasses of wine and toasted to kicking the doors off of 2012. We ate right at the bar and the bartender was awesome. The place was full but it's small enough where the staff can be comfortably on point without being overwhelmed with too many other tasks. Great night all around.