Seems like wherever I turn lately, I see Chef Jan Parker’s face. Since 2018, the Tacoma-based popup and catering chef has been serving her fresh, dynamic Filipino cuisine at farmer’s markets, in wineries and breweries, at ticketed dinner parties, in holiday street festivals, even at flea markets and vintage clothing fairs. She’s also hard to miss — just look for the long line of hungry people who know her for lumpia, pork adobo, or her perennial garlic chili noodles. 

That’s to say nothing of the media. Lately, Parker has been featured on several different TV news shows, in magazines, in a feature in the Tacoma News-Tribune as well as a piece on the newspaper’s “6 Women Changing the Restaurant Scene in Tacoma,” as the recipient of a business grant from Tacoma Housing Authority (which also awards her an affordable retail space). She’s been a contestant on Chopped as well as Ciao House, both via the Food Network. And boy, is she all over social media. The woman is prolific, and it’s for a reason. 

“One of our biggest hurdles right now,” Parker says, “is that the grant money we received won’t cover all of our build-out needs.” The retail space in the new Housing Hilltop South building that her brick-and-mortar restaurant concept, Reyna Filipina Kitchen, is slated to move into still needs a lot of work. Like a kitchen, for example. 

The building is part of a $120 million affordable housing project that began in 2016, and while the housing portion opened in August 2024, the HVAC system, flooring, and other improvements in the retail space are yet to be completed. Parker and Bridget Demerson, owner of children’s retail shop Lavonne’s Room, were the first two tenants/grant winners to be announced, and the decision comes with a cash gift. Both are minority- and woman-owned business enterprises (MWBEs), which were prioritized by the Tacoma Housing Authority when choosing tenants for the Housing Hilltop retail spaces. A Kickstarter campaign brought Parker’s project an extra $78,000. But there’s still work to do.

“Since we were awarded a cold shell, there is more involvement, as opposed to stepping right into a second-generation kitchen,” Parker says. “At the moment, our focus is on finding the right architect who can work within our budget while helping us bring our vision to life. The last architect we spoke with projected an estimated opening in the spring of 2026.”

In the meantime, Parker is filling her days with her signature hustle. Just to illustrate how full the Jan Parker Cookery schedule is: On Jan. 3, she was a featured vendor at the Bagong Taon! Filipino New Year’s celebration at Edison Square. In mid-January, Parker teamed up with Chef Mary Cortez and Martinez & Martinez Winery for a Mexican/Filipino dinner mashup with wine pairings. 

The following week, she was on the City of Tacoma’s TV talk show, CityLine, discussing her bistek tagalog recipe, and she followed that up with a spot at the Tacoma Night Market two days later. On Feb. 2, she served food at the Lunar New Year street festival in Tacoma’s Lincoln District. Starting Feb. 28, as part of Tacoma Beer Week, she’s taking part in creating a Filipino- and Korean-inspired beer that’s made with calamansi and rice, in collaboration with E9 Brewing Co., Delightful Market, and the Browns Point Home Brewing Club. And that’s just a fraction of her calendar. 

The event Parker’s most closely associated with, the Proctor Farmers Market, is still a go as well. The market’s in winter mode right now, every second and fourth Saturday, but she’s not slacking. She’s offering unique lumpias (spring rolls) with creative fillings like longannisa. There’s a curry beef lumpia, blending cold and comforting flavor. She’s got Kamayan plates, which highlight a traditional Filipino way of eating by hand, on a rotating menu. The most recent Kamayan platter included pork sisig, adobo fried chicken, and atchara pickles, served over rice. 

As I was leaving, someone wanted to know if Parker had her famous chili garlic noodles on the menu that day. I winced to hear the off-menu demand, especially when she and her team were so slammed. 

“I always have them,” Parker laughed, without missing a beat. “People get mad when I don’t have them on the menu. You got to give folks what they want!”