Angel House Fusion Cuisine opened May 22 in the Fred Meyer shopping complex at 950 SW Veterans Way, Unit 100. The restaurant is a mash-up of many styles of food, with heavy influence from Thai and Italian.

JP Murphy and his wife, Jip Thavisin, opened the fusion food house to break the mold of unmixed food styles that comprise many of Redmond’s restaurants. Thavisin is the head chef, and said she normally experiments with recipes at home to create a fusion of her Thai heritage and other food styles. She’s amassed a large selection of dishes, which she wants to try out on her menu at Angel House. The fusion restaurant is a first for Redmond.

“It’s a bit overwhelming,” Murphy said. “But it’s rewarding at the same time. It’s coming together and we’ve been able to produce something great.”

With dishes like grilled meatball kabobs to fresh snow crab with Chinese egg noodles, Thavisin’s unique dishes and homemade ice cream aren’t likely to be found anywhere else. Except maybe Thailand, where her aunt hosts a cooking show. Thavisin visits her aunt often and when she does, they compare recipes as a way to bond. Thavisin said she is inspired by her aunt’s success.

Thavisin named the restaurant based off her Buddhist religious beliefs, which include the belief in angels. She said it just made sense because she wanted to create an atmosphere where customers felt welcome and at home.

“It’s a creative process,” Thavisin said. “It’s like when I think, ‘If I add a little part of this to a little part of that, then it will come out good.’ And then you try it again and keeping making it better.”

Murphy and Thavisin are also part owners of Thai-O which is located in the same shopping complex. They took over Thai-O with their partners in 2014 and have seen continual growth in their customer base. Thavisin was also a cook at Thai-O, but wanted to be able to offer customers her fusion cuisine creations.

“We’ve built this restaurant from the ground up, so it’s going to be different than Thai-O,” Murphy said.

Thai-O will remain a traditional Thai restaurant as Thavisin branches outside of the status quo of food style. They chose the location after hearing about Baldy’s Barbecue moving to NW Sixth Street. The convenience of Murphy being able to go back and forth between Thai-O and Angel House, as well as the location already having a kitchen were the main reasons they moved in.

Thavisin said she has many dishes that aren’t on the menu yet that she has already created. She wants to see what kind of feedback she receives from her opening menu. When she cooks at home, Thavisin said she always experiments with the food she cooks. Sometimes the fusion of two different styles is a success, other times not so much. When it is, Thavisin said she hopes to be able to offer it at her restaurant.

“It’s kind of hard to explain, but I like a lot of different foods and whatever it is that I like I take in the kitchen and just combine it all,” Thavisin said.

Murphy is confident that the restaurant can be successful. Even though Angel House has Thai influence, the menu isn’t similar enough to Thai-O to worry Murphy. He said the addition of a fusion restaurant will help Redmond because it something the city doesn’t have. Redmond has many traditional “insert-style-here” restaurants, but not fusion restaurants, which presents Murphy and Thavisin a unique niche in the market.

Thavisin said she enjoys the creativity she can have with fusion style food. Enough so that she isn’t going to stop experimenting for new recipes at home.

“I get very happy when I cook,” Thavisin said. “On my face you can see that it makes me feel good.”

— Reporter, 541-548-2185, cbrown@redmondspokesman.com