Tacoma’s best chicken and jos were ready to retire. Then new owners stepped in

The retirement of Lori and John Fraizer, two lifelong Tacomans, easily could have meant the demise of yet another local diner, where the homemade cinnamon rolls are almost as famous as the chicken and jos — the poultry broken down in-house, battered and fried to order.

For 31 years the couple has shepherded Anglea’s Restaurant (pronounced “ang-lee”) on Tacoma’s Eastside. As they planned their getaway to the sunny Arizona desert, they convinced friends Teresa and Joe Maycumber to take the reins.

“I came in here and started helping bake a bit,” recalled Teresa Maycumber, who in January sold her stake in Sumner’s Hometown Charm Cafe, also known for its bakery. She previously ran Rescue Me Coffee and Deli in Puyallup for seven years. “John started joking with people: ‘Here’s the new owner.’”

Her husband chimed in: “‘Hey, you know, she’s gonna buy it.’”

When Anglea’s closed for several months in 2017 after a fire ravaged the midcentury-era building, she invited the staff — which included the Fraizers’ daughter Lindsay and John’s sister Sue — to work at Hometown Charm. They stayed in touch, but the notion of owning a third restaurant?

“I was like, no, not again!” said Maycumber in August.

Her husband persisted, sensing her innate spontaneity and dedication to old-fashioned hospitality. Joe Maycumber, a veteran plumber by day, also realized he was perhaps ready for that next adventure.

“I think I could drop some chicken!” he said.

Since agreeing to buy the business, he has been spending more and more hours in the kitchen, helping to separate the birds into legs and thighs, breasts and wings. Whether he has, in fact, been given the breading recipe or the secret to the longtime owners’ locally famous “jo sauce,” a sour cream fizzing with the tiny bubbles indicative of buttermilk and a dash of sugar, is another question.

“You gotta keep people wondering,” laughed John Fraizer, who has closely guarded the restaurant’s recipes since buying Anglea’s in 1991 from Lori Fraizer’s parents, who themselves bought it from the Anglea family in 1980. “People would say, ‘Is there honey in there?’ I’d say, ‘I don’t know, maybe there is.’ They’d come back and say, ‘I tried it — it’s not honey.’”

His response: “I didn’t say there was honey in there.”

HISTORY OF ANGLEA’S RESTAURANT

That Anglea’s is not closing but changing hands — to another local family — speaks to the restaurant’s 75-year history at 7511 Portland Ave. E.

For a sense of that multi-generational pull, scroll through the Fraizers’ Aug. 22 Facebook post announcing their retirement, where long-lost friends reconnected, former employees fondly recalled first jobs, and a few regaled tales of peach ice cream churned with fresh fruit from a long-gone orchard behind the property.

“We are so grateful for the friendships, working relationships and family love that we have received over the years,” the Fraizers wrote. “We have made many friends and lost many friends along the way. This restaurant has been a gathering place for families for generations and will continue to be just that.”

It began in the 1940s as Ide’s Ice Cream Parlor. The Anglea family took over and expanded it to become a full-service restaurant in 1947, steering the ship for 33 years. Lori Fraizer’s father delivered chicken from nearby Pederson Fryer Farms, explained John Fraizer, the company’s de-facto archivist. “He’d ride his bike here for ice cream. He told Mrs. Anglea, ‘Some day I’m gonna buy this restaurant.’”

Lori worked here in high school, when it was still under the Angleas’ purview. A few years later, her dad kept his promise, and with her mom, they grew the business to include a successful catering operation — still in high-demand today.

Then, as John Fraizer tells it, “They retired and they tricked me into buying it.”

Like the Angleas, whose own kids had little interest in owning a restaurant — one went into research medicine and the other landed at Boeing — the Fraizers’ daughters have taken a devious approach.

“They didn’t want it,” said Lori Fraizer, “but they didn’t want us to sell it. You know, they grew up here. Lindsay was basically working here by 7 years old.”

Now grown and with kids of her own, you will still find her serving baskets of chicken and jos and slices of banana cream pie. John Fraizer’s sister will also stay on, as will a grandson in the kitchen and the rest of current staff.

WHAT WON’T CHANGE AT THIS MIDLAND DINER

The chicken and jos have “always been what they’re known for,” said Teresa Maycumber, so expect no changes on the poultry and potato front. For dessert, rotating pies will remain, including the popular chocolate-peanut butter, but she plans to expand the offerings to compensate for a dearth of bakeries in the area. She also anticipates seasonal treats like pumpkin bars and holiday pre-orders — last year Anglea’s sold about 120, according to current baker Jeanna Irish.

The physical printout of the menu will change: Maycumber has swapped the Fraizers’ folded paper booklet for a heavy-duty, two-sided version.

If you haven’t visited since before the 2017 fire, you’ll also notice the old teal booths have been replaced with red and silver hues. “I wanted it to look like a ‘50s diner,” said Lori Fraizer. The original neon “Anglea’s” sign, anchored by a red analog clock, still hangs behind the counter.

Locally famous for its pressure-fried chicken, that jo sauce, pies and cinnamon rolls in three flavors, Anglea’s is also beloved for its neighborly hospitality, the kind where everyone who walks in has or sure seems like they’ve been here before. That won’t change.

ANGLEA’S RESTAURANT

▪ 7511 Portland Ave. E, Tacoma (Midland), 253-531-9329, facebook.com/AngleasRestaurant

▪ Monday-Friday 6 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

▪ Details: longtime diner known for chicken and jos, pie and cinnamon rolls has new owners as of Sept. 1; call for takeout and catering inquiries

This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM.