At Eric Johnson and Seth Hammond’s new bar next to Stateside, Foreign National, cocktails play with the theme of East meets West, or more accurately, the East through a foreigner’s eyes. There is the classic Singapore Sling, an Expat Punch with passion fruit juice and Taittinger, and a Long Thailand Iced Tea, with rye and brandy and rums and actual (Thai) tea. Johnson, who grew up in Long Island but has family in Washington, is a former expat himself—a French-trained chef who spent eight years in China and opened French restaurant Jean-Georges in Shanghai.
Johnson wanted Foreign National to resemble “more what Asia really looks like” versus just looking Asian-inspired—more like the old tucked-away bars he’d seen in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Saigon that haven’t changed much over the years. Those places must look like gorgeous 1970s-era cocktail lounges, because that’s what Foreign National resembles. Designed by Callie Meyer, the bar could be straight out of a scene in Scarface: A curtain of metal chains near the door blocks out the sunlight and adds to the clandestine feel, leather banquettes line walls covered in striking orchid-pink vintage wallpaper, and a gorgeous brass semi-circle-shaped back bar with distressed mirrors holds the liquor. Asians must also like track lighting and disco balls, because they have them here.
But self-consciously adopting a cuisine you’re not born into can force anyone into a defensive role. “I’m not French, but nobody would blink an eye if I did open a French restaurant, right?” Johnson told Vice a few months back in an interview for their food site, Munchies. The story, titled “Why This Chef Is Taking Vietnamese Food to Another Level in Seattle,” raised several questions around appropriation, authenticity, and value.