Our History
1916 Our family business took shape in 1916 when Joseph Czarnecki, the great-grandfather of our current chef-proprietor Christopher Czarnecki, opened Joe’s Tavern in Reading, Pennsylvania. The simple menu catered primarily to Joseph’s fellow Polish immigrants and featured bowls of wild mushroom soup for 20 cents.
1945(ish) Joseph’s son, Joseph Jr., carried on the tradition but transformed the original tavern into Joe’s Restaurant, shifting the focus to fine dining and wine with wild mushrooms (a family passion and Polish tradition) as the centerpiece. He also adopted the European-style service charge, rejecting the inequitable, tip-based model of most American restaurants.
1975 Joseph Jr.’s son – Jack Czarnecki – followed in his father’s footsteps and elevated the experience at Joe’s Restaurant, while maintaining the mushroom theme (and authoring a James Beard Award-winning cookbook on mushroom cookery). Pursuing their passion for fine cuisine, great mushroom hunting, and world-class wine to its natural conclusion, Jack and his wife Heidi moved to Oregon in 1996. They purchased and renovated the historic Joel Palmer House in the heart of Willamette Valley, opening a whole new chapter for the Czarnecki family restaurant and its wine cellar.
2006 - Present Jack and Heidi’s son, Christopher, joined the family business full-time after returning from service in the US Army in 2006. As an Iraq Veteran (OIFII, 1stID, TF 1/7) he worked alongside his parents for 2 years until they formally passed the baton to the next generation in 2008.
Coincidentally, this was the same year he married his wife, Mary.
Today, Chris guides the restaurant into the future while always respecting its past: Tasteful renovations of the house – which is on both the Oregon and National Registers of Historic Places – bring a modern touch to the dining room, while the wooden chairs Jack and Heidi brought from Pennsylvania honor the history of this family endeavor.
On Chris’s watch, innovation and tradition work side by side, blending the wisdom of experience with the thrill of new energy. Welcome to the Joel Palmer House.
The History of Joel Palmer and His Home
Joel Palmer (1810-1881) was one of Oregon’s preeminent pioneers and early statesmen, and the co-founder of the town of Dayton. He left Indiana in 1845 leading one of three wagon trains headed for Oregon, and completed the arduous journey again the following year to escort his wife and children west to their new home. After co-founding the town of Dayton in 1848, Palmer built a house for himself and his family there in 1857, which the Joel Palmer House Restaurant now occupies.
On horseback, he traversed the country.
Then he went home
On horseback
and did it again.