Another Tacoma waterfront restaurant scooped up by prominent Puget Sound group

Tacoma’s Boathouse 19, following its sister restaurant Lobster Shop on Ruston Way, appears to have new owners.

Anthony’s Restaurants, which operates more than 30 eateries in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, has applied for a liquor license and filed Department of Revenue paperwork for the scenic Narrows Marina business, according to state records. In a nod to its original name and marina vista, the new business will go by Anthony’s Boathouse.

The Kirkland-based company’s communications director did not immediately respond to an email sent Wednesday evening. A spokesperson at the corporate office said in a phone call Thursday morning that the company had no comment at this time.

The sale appeared imminent as of early December, when E3 Restaurant Group bought the Lobster Shop from its founders Dennis and Katie Driscoll, who said they were retiring. Boathouse 19 was not part of that sale.

E3 also operates The Metropolitan Grill and Elliott’s Oyster House in Seattle, and until its closure last March served fried seafood aplenty at Steamer’s Seafood Cafe at Titlow Beach.

Katie Driscoll did not immediately respond to an email from The News Tribune.

On Dec. 28, according to a public filing of license applications with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, parent company Mad Anthony’s Inc. applied for a liquor license at 9001 S. 19th St. The listing describes the current license holder as Hindquarter I, under Dennis Driscoll’s name, and the new applicant as Mad Anthony’s. Washington liquor licenses cannot be transferred; new owners must apply for a new license.

Anthony’s also filed paperwork with the Washington State Department of Revenue that added Anthony’s Boathouse to the same UBI as their other Washington businesses.

The addition adds a fourth Pierce County restaurant to their portfolio: Anthony’s at Point Defiance opened in 1998, followed by Harbor Lights on Ruston Way in 2000 and Anthony’s at Gig Harbor a year later. There are also outposts in Olympia, Des Moines, Bremerton, Spokane and Seattle, employing some 1,300 people pre-pandemic.

Budd Gould opened his first restaurant at Bellevue Crossings in 1969; the HomePort in Kirkland marked the advent of the brand’s waterfront amenity. In 1984, a seafood arm of the business helped facilitate direct relationships with purveyors around the Sound, the West Coast and Alaska. Today the company is co-led by his son Herb Gould and, as of this week, his daughter Amy Burns, according to a Jan. 5 press release.

The Driscolls have been a staple of South Sound seafood destinations since 1977, when they opened the first Lobster Shop in Dash Point (closed since 2015) and the second on Ruston Way four years later. They also ran Tanglewood Grill in Gig Harbor, now home to Dunagan Brewing.

Boathouse 19 opened in 2012 at the Narrows Marina. Narrows Brewing followed in 2013 with production and a taproom boasting the same great views.

This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 10:00 AM.