By Soyun Chow

Special to the Reporter

When you step into The Crawlspace Gastropub located in Mercer Island’s Town Center, you will often see a crowd that represents Island residents — families with children and friends of all ages enjoying delicious meals and drinks. They have discovered this warm, lively and friendly spot, which is currently filled with elaborate holiday decorations.

Mercer Island residents Robin and Jason Farrish opened the restaurant on Sept. 26 to much anticipation from Islanders. Jason is the chef and created the menu. He is there every day and loves to greet and talk to customers. Robin describes herself as the restaurant’s interior designer, creative director and bringer of joy. Their son William, who attends Mercer Island High School, also works at this family business.

“Mercer Island really needed a place like this,” Jason said. “We have been overwhelmingly supported by the community and it’s just been so positive. The crowd is the most diverse I have seen in any restaurant on Mercer Island.”

Though most customers are from the Island, there are more coming in from other parts of the greater Seattle area.

The menu is also diverse, inspired by the Hawaiian style of having “many cultures on one plate,” Jason said. He describes the restaurant as a modern Northwest Pan Pacific fusion pub with food that has a heavy Korean, Hawaiian and Mexican influence. The most popular dishes, the Crawlspace burgers, wings and tacos, represent the fusion inspiration. The burgers are mostly traditional American but include pickled Korean radish on the bottom. The tacos are filled with either chicken, tofu or ribeye and marinated in a Korean inhouse kalbi sauce. Children’s options include the Kids Grilled Cheese made with buttered and toasted fluffy Japanese milk bread and American cheese.

Flavors in the dishes are intentional. Jason explained: “Instead of just mashing two things together, I’m going to replace the acid component from a dish with a component from another culture, but it still has similar textures and flavor profiles — just with a little twist.”

Jason describes himself as a fusion of being half Korean and half white and grew up in Hawaii, which he said is “all fusion.” His mother and her family immigrated to Hawaii from South Korea in the 1970s and opened successful restaurants, starting with Yummy Korean BBQ in 1986, which expanded to other restaurants in the Yummy Restaurant Group. Growing up, Jason worked at his family’s Yummy Korean BBQ restaurants, but his family urged him to get a white-collar job, which he did for 25 years. Over the last few years, he realized that he missed the restaurant industry and had a growing dream to open his own place. When retail space opened at a former salon in Town Center near Mercerdale Park, he left his job in finance and launched The Crawlspace Gastropub.

His mother and uncle tried to talk him out of opening the restaurant, but after visiting The Crawlspace, he said, “They love it, and I have their full blessing. It was a lot of stress for me to maintain the family legacy. Also, it’s very beloved food in Hawaii and to have Hawaiian ex-pats over here [to try the food] was a lot of stress on me too.”

The Hawaiian influenced dishes have been well received, including the Loco Moco, a Crawlburger patty over rice covered with gravy and topped with fried egg, which is served on Sundays for brunch. Mercer Island resident Abby Nguyen grew up traveling to Hawaii often to visit her father and still goes there frequently every year with her husband and children. She said, “A trip to Hawaii is not complete without Loco Moco and Spam Musubi for our family. Both dishes at the Crawlspace are authentic, legit, and so good!”

The Crawlspace name is inspired by Robin’s background in construction, where she has worked for the last 25 years. She loves that there is a place where her coworkers can have great food and drinks. She also wanted to open a fun restaurant where you can take your kids.

Entertaining music is often playing in the background and customers can enjoy singing along to karaoke on Tuesday nights starting around 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. There is also a private dining room that can be reserved to enjoy karaoke.

This month, there are seven holiday-themed handcrafted cocktails and one mocktail. Some drinks are made with ingredients from Islander-owned businesses, including Aditi Chai and Héroe de León Tequila in the Chai-lent Night and Savor Spear bourbon in the Gingerbread Old Fashioned. Customers can also enjoy the rotating local beers on tap, variety of wine and popular craft cocktails like the Liliko’i Mai Tai and Vapor Barrier and mocktail Snail Pound.

“We have so many friends here now and the staff are so excited to spread the holiday cheer with the whole island,” Jason said.

One of those friends, Victor Raisys, who co-owns Island Books with wife Laurie, is a regular customer who visits the restaurant at least one to two times a week. He has a weekly drink and appetizers with his 90-year-old father and alternates between The Crawlspace, the Roanoke and Barrels Wine Bar. He also often has dinner there with Laurie and discovered that it’s a great place to meet friends for lunch, dinner or a drink.

“I love The Crawlspace!” Raisys said. “All of the dishes reflect the love, passion and family history that Jason has put into Crawlspace. I think we’re seeing a renaissance within the Mercer Island Town Center. The Crawlspace, in addition to other new businesses like Allister and ASA, add to the vibrancy of the Mercer Island Town Center, which is exciting to see. [They] add to the sense of community and provide a third place for Island residents, as well as a destination for non-Island residents, to gather. They all provide a place to see your friends and neighbors without having to leave the island.”

A sense of community is what The Crawlspace provided last November when most Islanders faced power outages that resulted from the massive windstorm. As one of the first businesses to have power restored, they offered Islanders a warm place to hang out, multiple chargers for their devices, and free cheeseburgers for empty stomachs.

The Crawlspace Gastropub is located at 3041 78th Ave. SE. The restaurant will be open on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. For more information, hours and to make reservations and orders to go, visit thecrawlspacegastropub.com.

Victor and Vidmantas Raisys visit The Crawlspace Gastropub during one of their weekly father-and-son outings. Photo courtesy of Laurie Raisys

Holiday-themed cocktails and mocktail currently available at The Crawlspace Gastropub. Photo courtesy of Jason Farrish

Bulgogi Tacos — thinly sliced ribeye marinated with kalbi sauce, melted cheese, pickled shallots, lime and cilantro. Photo courtesy of Jason Farrish

KBBQ Chicken Bowl — grilled boneless chicken, kalbi marinade, rice and Korean vegetables. Photo courtesy of Jason Farrish

Loco Moco — a classic Hawaiian dish made with Crawlburger patty, rice, egg and brown gravy. Photo courtesy of Jason Farrish