The Joel Palmer House

We visited The Joel Palmer house on Friday, April 8^th. It was amazing. From start to finish the food was incredible and the service outstanding. We had the five course menu. I had the wild mushroom soup, the mushroom tart, the angel hair pasta with lobster (generous portion of lobster), the filet and the trio of desserts. My boyfriend had the wild mushroom soup, the risotto, sturgeon, filet and cheese board for dessert. We also had a dozen oysters to start. The palate cleansers were interesting and very good as well. We did bring our own wine just because we have so much in our wine cellar. Their wine list was extensive, though, with lots of great local wines to choose from. We will definitely be back! Also, thanks to the reviewer who posted about how good the mushroom tart was. We probably wouldn’t have ordered it, but next time we go back we will both get it — it was that good!

Must admit our expectations were very high, given the comments from friends. We were the only patrons in the restaurant, we had made reservations for the Sunshine Mushroom menu, party of four. The pictures & reviews were not representative of our dishes, i.e. Risotto & Beef Stroganoff. We did bring our own local Pinot Noir from Sokol Blosser & Aramenta, which we enjoyed. Enjoyed the hard rolls. Hopefully we will get another opportunity soon, to dine with a better experience.

Party of six
We had where looking forward to this trip for a while all 6 are foodies
well it was a waste of money service was bad all dishes where very salty and tasted the same from the hair on the side of the plate servers response when asked for a new plate «its on the side that wont matter». I could go on about the whole experience but all I will say is after spending well over $ 700 the best thing was the wine which we brought ourselves

My husband and I celebrated an Anniversary here and were very pleased with all aspects of our meal and our drinks, quaint atmosphere and wonderful service. They did not let you run out of anything.

An amazing experience from start to finish! If you love mushrooms like I do this is a must go! Not every dish has mushroom as its central main focus, but mushrooms are in most dishes to enhance the dish to its full potential. The place is a house like the name suggests and right away the bread offered is tasty with the butter. The menu is set to a couple choices and to sample all of it, you can ask for the prix fixe option. That includes an appetizer which involves mushrooms in a creamy soup. The entrees were amazing. The beef stroganoff so delicious with wild mushrooms in every bite. The sauce was bowl licking good, good thing I saved my bread to dip in the sauce. The steak with porcini mushrooms also tasted great. However, what will get me back to dayton is the dessert. O goodness on the morel Panna cotta concoction! I am just shivering with withdrawls right now thinking about the creamy, tart and sweet, smooth and devine flavors of this dessert. I believe there was another dessert with candy cap mushrooms that was also good, but my obvious favorite is the pannacotta.
Bonus: the quaint, cute atmosphere of dining in a house.

I ate here 8 years ago and it was amazing. Now, 8 years later, there is only one good thing to say about the restaurant from dinner last night and that is the service. The food was awful.

In Oregon visiting with my fiancé for his birthday. He came here about 8 years ago and remembered the Joel Palmer house having amazing food but not such a great atmosphere. He insisted we go there because all of the food was made with mushrooms and we both love mushrooms.
Have to give them some credit because we showed up 20 minutes past our reservation because we didn’t realize how far the restaurant really was from the hotel we were staying at.
They were so nice about that and treated us with great service the whole way through. Our server was Ashley and she was so knowledgable, attentive and a great server.
Now the food–
First we had the mushroom soup which was pretty good. The mushroom risotto had absolutely no flavor and they made us a fresh batch which turned out to be ok. The angel hair pasta was ok. Then they brought of the filet mignon steak with mash potatoes and broccoli. The steak was cooked perfectly but the broccoli was extremely salty and the mashed potatoes were bland. Maybe you were supposed to use the saltiness from the broccoli for the mashed potatoes. The cheese board dessert we got was ok the manchego seemed very young. Not a fan of apricots and there were two kinds on the board with some fig and some there was a red sauce that didn’t taste good. The Brie and blue cheese were decent enough. At the end we got a weird shortbread cookie. I love shortbread but the filling was odd.
We did order a really nice Pinot that the wine person helped us pick out.
Overall the food was a mediocre but the servers and chefs were nice.

A very hit and miss dinner here on Saturday night. Some dishes were great! Others were so terrible that I have to give Joe Palmer House 2 stars based on our experience. The highlight was the sommelier who recommended such a fantastic bottle of wine. We had a sauvignon blanc from Kandarian cellars/​Croft Vineyards, which may seem like a strange suggestions for pinot noir country, but it was so hot and we needed something cool and refreshing. A beautiful bottle and a lovely recommendation.
Overall service was great. We each had 3 courses, and started with the mushroom tart and an asparagus soup. Mushroom tart was excellent and was indeed the essence of mushrooms as advertised on the menu. Soup was good too, but no sign or taste of asparagus, tasted more like leeks, refreshing though.
Then things went downhill. We ordered the smoked sturgeon and a rabbit stuffed with fig and morel mushrooms on the side, which was a special that night. The sturgeon was so tough and rubbery that you needed a knife to cut through it. No piece of fish should ever be that tough. After I tried it we both agreed that we had to send it back. Maybe it was over smoked, but it didn’t even had good flavor. This should never have been sent out of the kitchen, not sure how it passed muster and met their standards. She order the elk special instead which was absolutely delicious! The meat was cooked perfectly and had a delicious wine reduction sauce I think, but it was great. Still hard to forget the sturgeon though and it just sucks to have to send something back, ruins the dinner and the experience.
I order the rabbit special. I should have also sent this back, but felt too bad after having sent one thing back already. The rabbit had such a strange preparation; a thin piece of rabbit meat rolled with minced rabbit and fig inside. The texture of whatever was inside was awful, tasted like cat food. And the rabbit had no flavor. So disappointing. I should have order the elk as well or one of their signatures but wanted to try something new.
Desserts were pretty good. Mushroom crème brûlée was awesome, and a pound cake was just okay. For $ 55 not a great deal which means the entrée was around $ 30-​$ 35 and the appetizer and dessert each around $ 10-​$ 12.

Absolutely wonderful. Great service, great food, delicious drinks. Excellent!

I had wanted to go here for years, and finally scheduled it for my 48^th birthday. I spent the preceeding week telling everyone how excited I was and was not let down by the Joe Palmer House. The food was just magical. Everything we ordered was presented beautifully and tasted great.
If I had to do it all over, I would change a couple of my food orders. I got the five course menu. The wild mushroom soup… no brainer; it was perfect. Of the shreaded vegetable course, the only real plussing one was the curry flavored turnip. The beet and carrot didnt do anything for me.
I ordered the mushroom risotto because I am not a fan of tarts, but having tasted the tart, I would order that next time. It was every bit as good as everyone raves it to be. I would also switch the sturgeon to the lobster pasta next time. I had never tried sturgeon, so I gave it a try, but I think the lobster would have been the better choice.
The filet course was perfect. Nothing more needs to be said. I wish the dessert course had included something with mushrooms, but the choices were tasty, and even better were the chocolates brought at the end.
The atmosphere was romantic. A little noisy but only because one girl had a voice that carried. Who knows, they may have felt the same about us after our two bottles of wine.
The service was a little disappointing after what I read. I would have liked more narrative on the dishes, and we sat there awhile before the waiter showed up to take our order. We were also confused about who our server was. The semolier came to the table first, so she should have clarified who she was and how things would work.
Overall, this place far exceeeded my already high expectations, and I have no problem recommending to anyone for a romantic. relaxing dinner.

I was staying in Dayton for a bachelorette weekend getaway and was greatly looking forward to experiencing the mushroom-​centered Joel Palmer House after wine tasting. Unfortunately, this establishment was a disappointment in many respects. First off… I expected to have a long evening of dining without being rushed from the servers or the kitchen so please don’t think I was upset by the 4.5 hour dining experience. The service was SEVERELY LACKING. We did not order anything other than our wine until we had been seated for 90 minutes. Most of the women I was dining with ordered the 3 course meal, but I ordered the 5 course mushroom experience with the expectation of AWESOME. This should have included the wild mushroom soup, wild mushroom soufflé, lobster pasta, filet mignon, and a «forest-​inspired» dessert.
The wine selection at this restaurant is top notch. I greatly appreciated the guidance and recommendations of the Som even with her awkward delivery/​presence. She was the only staff member who seemed to have their act together.
My first course was delivered at the same time as everybody else’s. The mushroom soup was more like a gravy. It tasted like broth thickened with corn syrup. As a person who loves soup, I found this to be extremely disappointing. The mushroom soufflé that was supposed to come out as my second course was tasty (I tried my friend’s), but I thought the crust could’ve used considerably more butter in it and also found the mushroom part to be too dense to convey any sort of quality flavor.
When my pals’ main courses started to come out, I mentioned to the server that I had not gotten my soufflé. She looked upset by this information and told me she would rectify it. Since my buddies were already going to be eating their main courses, I requested she not bring out the soufflé and to just bring out the lobster pasta and filet mignon together. I’d give the pasta a solid 3 out of 5 stars due to it not being at a warm enough temperature and lacking flavor in the sauce. It would’ve also been nice to see homemade pasta instead of boxed. The lobster was tender and I enjoyed the fresh peas, but some additional herbs would’ve done a lot for taste. My filet mignon was the best dish I had that evening being appropriately prepared with quality accompaniments.
The server told me I would not be charged for my meal, but my check included a charge for the 3 course meal. It was disappointing since I was told otherwise, but I went ahead and paid it so as to not make a scene in front of my friends or the bride to be. I’m almost always a 20% tipper, but I chose to tip a meager 10% due to the sub-​par service and inability to follow through on what she told me she would do to compensate for not having my meal as ordered.
It’s very unfortunate this place did not live up to the hype. I think it has great potential, but the lackluster food and terrible service completely ruin it. I’m hoping the owner reads these negative reviews and turns it around. As a mushroom lover, I would be willing to give it a second chance even though it’s a long drive from Portland for an evening.

Wow, this was really, really good. At first it’s a bit odd to learn it’s «all about the mushroom» but really everything was executed extremely well. The food was phenomenal. Only knock was the Som directed me to a 2011 pinot, even after i told her i knew 2011 was a down year. I felt like she was trying to get rid of the wine. The good news is, after i rejected it, she brought me something else! I was a bit frustrated by that, although i suppose i also could have just put my foot down on the 2011 initially. Overall amazing food and experience.

I went here with my boyfriend after Valentines Day because we didn’t feel like fighting the mobs. I have been wanting to eat here for a very long time but it’s pretty expensive. So my boyfriend took me and it was the first time for both of us. Exciting stuff.
Staff was attentive, professional, and very nice. My boyfriend moved his chair next to mine. The two top tables are on the larger side and so sitting across from each other seemed awkward. The staff didn’t mind. I think they thought we were cute. We perused the menu and we had brought some wine and the somm came over and opened our bottles to breathe and we ordered two glasses of delicious viognier off the by the glass list.
We wanted to order everything but we tried to behave. Raw oysters are one of my favorite things but the orders only come in half dozens so we ordered two. I was skeptical of the pinot sauce that came with them, but it was superb. The oysters were clean, fresh, and expertly prepared. We could have eaten another 12 easily.
Then we had the foie gras, also one of my favorite things. It came two ways, both on brioche. One was seared and the other was a pâté. The whole thing came with some sort of caramelized onion compote and some wine soaked pear slices. The brioche was much, much larger than either of the foie gras treatments and we ended up ignoring it altogether. The somm made an excellent recommendation for two glasses of Sauternes to go with the foie gras and I was glad she did. Both treatments were a scant two bites. It’s a pricey ingredient. I get it.
Then we had the salmon tartar. The taste was delicious, but the texture took away from it. The salmon had been minced too warm making the texture of the fish almost a paste. Next time, a second dozen of oysters it is!
My boyfriend tried the foraged mushroom tart. I was excited. We were slightly confused when it arrived because it was a piece of pie not actually a tart in the traditional sense. The mushroom filling was diced so fine that the actual mushrooms were not identifiable so it was more like a mushroom paste filling. It tasted delicious, but the presentation threw us both off.
For entrees he ordered the filet mignon with the mushroom sauce and I ordered the duck. We were into our bottle of wine at this point and having a great time. His steak and my duck were perfectly cooked. His gripe was there were only two small pieces of mushroom on the plate, but the sauce itself was silky and perfectly seasoned. My gripe was that my duck breast had a firm line of sinew that I had to cut around to eat and that’s a technical flaw that shouldn’t happen at this level of dining. However, the duck was cooked superbly, rendered properly, and the flavor imparted by the wine sauce kept me devouring it.
For dessert my boyfriend had the mushroom crème brûlée. He liked it, but honestly we had so much wine by that point that we really don’t remember the dessert all that much. I had something chocolatey that neither of us remember. The experience was amazing and the staff and service was excellent. We had a leisurely three hour dinner and we never felt rushed. I would definitely go back.

My party & I had such a lovely experience at this restaurant and would absolutely come back again. The whole meal from beginning to end was magnificent and served with such style and grace. I would say probably my favorite part of the night was just seeing how many young people they hire. I love to see young teenagers being put to work and having someone give them a chance in the workforce. It’s clear that they are really training and developing an amazing staff here, as the young man who brought our bread couldn’t have been older than 14 or 15 years old, but he already had such amazing manners and a good grasp of hospitality that it is clear he will go on to greater things someday! As far as the food itself, our favorite was definitely the bread… delicious, hot, steaming, homemade bread with salty butter… brought around every few minutes. Doesn’t get any better than that! :-) the beef stroganoff was also completely unforgettable. The only thing we could have improved was the flavor of the fish we ordered, which was a sturgeon. Something about it just didn’t seem quite right, maybe it was too much of a smoky flavor for our taste, or maybe the fish just wasn’t that great, but it seems like it could have been prepared in a little bit of a better way… other than that, everything was perfect and I definitely recommend coming here if you are celebrating something special like a birthday or an engagement or something like that! :-)

Took a little trip here based on the recommendation of Unilocal and our driver from Oregon Select Wine Tours (Jeff and Chef Christopher are friends but that is not why this place was recommended… the food here is really good).
If you enjoy mushrooms on any sort of level, this is the place to be. The entire menu is based off mushrooms. The menu changes pretty frequently, but they always offer a 3 course tasting menu and a mushroom madness tasting menu. On our menu that night we went with the wild mushroom soup, mushroom risotto, Elk in a porcini reduction, Filet Mignon with mushrooms and for desert, a mushroom S’mores. I will be honest, coming into this trip I enjoyed mushrooms, but after leaving, I had a much greater appreciation.
The wine menu here is spectacular. A wide variety of local Pinot Noir’s highlight the menu. The price range was quite wide, but all of them were great value. I did not see wines on the menu that were 3x the normal bottle price. The ones I looked at were roughly 2x the normal bottle price, which is reasonable for a higher end restaurant.
The restaurant is in an house that reminds me of a house you would see in Virginia. A house with an expansive wrap around porch with large pillars across it. The tables inside provide a cozy and quaint environment, without being on top of each other. The staff was fast, efficient and knew how to serve a meal. They followed great etiquette when delivering food and removing plates. The wine service from our server was great too. My favorite part was the kitchen did not rush you through the meal. I know they had seatings after us, but they were spaced apart nicely so you could enjoy your meal, have good conversation and relax. I never felt rushed or felt like I needed to down my wine.
For a unique experience in a dining that centers around mushrooms, this is a great spot. It makes sense too, Oregon Pinot can have some earthy/​dirty tones to them, which is a natural pairing with mushrooms. I wold recommend this is any foodie.

this is a beautiful restaurant set in an old home in Dayton Oregon. since this restaurant
has come to town, Dayton has sort of growing up to be a little bit fancier than it was.
reservations are suggested for this place.
most of the food here is centered around wild mushrooms. when in season you can get chanterelles and morels plus other ones.
the mushroom tart is to die for. as well as the beef stroganoff.
service here is impeccable. but it does come with a high price.

Love love this place … Great service and the food is Delicious and worth the $$ My favorite restaurant. Great wine selection also ! My BF takes me on our 6 mo 1 yr anniversary and on special occasions as it can get pricey but so worth the experience

Have to say the ambiance is just beautiful. My brother and I took my mom to dinner for her 55^th birthday. The menu was simply laid out for a course dinner, very easy to follow.
My Mother ordered the seasonal-​soup for her starter, mushroom angel hair pasta dish with the lobster add on for her main dish, and blackberry bread pudding for sweets. I ordered the seasonal soup as well for my starer, and the beef stroganoff for my main course. My brother ordered the elk ribeye and the crembule for dessert.
I have to say the beef stroganoff was the best entrée, the mushroom sauce was to die for. Fresh wild mushrooms with filet-​minion as their beef. It was incredible, I highly, highly recommend that dish.
The chef was inspired by wild mushrooms and the menu showed that. I offered him a place to stay and yearly compensation but he wasn’t interested. The food was amazing, we really enjoyed our time. The only thing that could improve on was the bread, but hey its complimentary…
Its a very romantic setting. Please check it out. Chef is badass and I’m sure if they get your order right its a night of relaxation…

Our recent dining experience here was simply incredible. If you have the opportunity to dine in their outdoor area on a dry, fall evening, you really should. It’s just a lovely, romantic venue to get your flirt on with that special someone or enjoy a celebratory meal with friends. The service was professional yet gracious and accommodating in every way. The service is so accommodating in fact, they will enable you to eat yourself sick on their delightful bread unless you cut them off. Show some restraint! The bread is only the beginning! Eating here is truly a culinary experience to be savored. At the time we dined, there were three tasting menu options, a three course option for ($ 49 a piece) which is what we did as well as a mushroom themed tasting menu (3+ courses) and a vegetarian tasting menu that were a bit more. We opted to start with the wild mushroom soup and the mushroom tart, both were perfect in every way and I would eat for every meal of every day if I had the chance. I had also read some other reviews that mentioned the entrée sizes were a bit small, so we added on the mushroom risotto (very good) and the foie gras. Our server recommended pairing the foie gras with the late harvest Semillon and couldn’t have been more spot on. That pairing may have been the best flavor combination I’ve had all year and I still get tingles thinking about it several days later. I had the filet for my entrée which my bf described as exceptional. The bf had the sturgeon which was also delicious. For dessert I had the crème brulee with the candy cap mushrooms and the bf had the rum cake. Both were good, but I preferred the interesting take on the crème brulee. The only misstep we made the entire night was not bringing our own bottle of wine and paying the very reasonable $ 20 corkage fee. Their wine list showcases the best of the best Willamette Valley wines in the area and the sommelier is very helpful to guide you through them. However we just couldn’t handle the sticker shock of the prices of many of the same bottles we had at home (I know, it comes with dining out) and ended up going with glasses of beer and wine. They also offer cocktails if you are so inclined. A few other highlights include electric car charging and several gluten-​free and vegetarian options. I would definitely make reservations well in advance, especially if it is the time of year where they don’t do outdoor seating. Be prepared for an 18% auto grat regardless of group size (not a big deal). Also note, they aren’t open Sundays which is a bit of a bummer as it would be the perfect way to cap off a day of wine tasting. Enjoy!

Everything they say about this place is correct. Impeccable service from when you walk in to when you leave. Approachable servers and sommelier and the chef came out to greet everyone.
We had our anniversary meal here and went all out and it was completely worth it. The food was some of the most creative and inventive I’ve ever had. I especially enjoyed the sturgeon. It was moist and the sauce was perfect. Another highlight were the smores with a mushroom marshmallow. Who would have thought this would be good?
This place is expensive. You are playing for the whole experience which is wonderful.

As soon as I scheduled my wine tasting trip to Willamette Valley, I took a look at the fine dining establishments in that area. And lo and behold, that’s when I realized that The Joel Palmer House was there. I only know of The Joel Palmer House because I met the former chef, Jack Czarnecki, at the Fancy Food Show in DC as he was displaying his pinot sauces at one of the booths. So as soon as I saw that I would be staying very close to his restaurant, I reached out to him to find out if they might accommodate vegans to which he replied, «absolutely,» and then offered to take me truffle hunting as well. Wow! I was so excited.
Come to find out that Jack Czarnecki is known to be an expert on truffles and The Joel Palmer House specializes in mushroom and truffle dishes. This was sounding like a dream come true. You might be wondering who the heck Joel Palmer is, as was I. He was one of Oregon’s pioneers who co-​founded the town of Dayton in 1848 and built his home in 1857, which is now where the restaurant is housed. In 1996, Jack Czarnecki purchased the Joel Palmer House and moved their restaurant there. In 2008, Jack retired and sold the business to his son Chris Czarnecki, who is now the current chef.
After spending the day truffle hunting with Jack, we arrived covered in dirt to this fancy restaurant. They allowed us to go upstairs to change into more suitable attire, then we were seated in one of the many dining areas. As a historic home, the grand pillars made it feel like you were dining in the White House, but inside it was nothing but cozy. They had a special menu planned for us and I was so excited for it to begin.
The amuse bouche consisted of three tartares. On the left was one made of cauliflower and white truffle oil, in the middle was one with carrots and black trumpet mushrooms, and on the right was one made of beets with black truffle oil. They were all so rich and flavorful.
They also served bread with a truffle-​spread made with vegan butter and fresh truffles. My friend, Corey, couldn’t keep his hands off of it.
For the wine, we had heard they had one of the most impressive wine lists in the area and we would agree. After speaking to their famous sommelier, we chose a 2007 Ken Wright red wine from the Canary Hill Vineyards. Loved this wine.
For the first course, we had a mushroom soup with tofu purée. It had an incredibly earthy flavor with a creamy purée. I seriously could have stopped at this course.
For the second course, we were served compressed honeydew topped with pickled radishes and set in avocado oil. For the watermelon ball, they compressed it in a vacuum sealer. The olive oil lemon sorbet was made with liquid nitrogen. Then there was the truffle powder. This was a neat way for the chef to show off his molecular gastronomy skills.
As a palate cleanser, we had a candy cap mushroom sorbet with rhubarb caviar. By this point, we were so impressed with the flavor pairings, we just couldn’t wait to see what was coming next.
For the third course, we were served one of the most amazing dishes of the night. Thick black and white quinoa cakes were served in a red bell pepper couli and topped with porcini mushrooms, hazelnuts, and shaved truffles. The entire meal was just bursting with flavor as the quinoa soaked up the coulis and added sweetness to the hearty cakes. On the side were fava beans with diced onions.
The fourth course was a mish-​mash of a bunch of different things presented on a slate. There was a delicious garbanzo bean hummus and a strawberry peach roll-​up. Kiwi was served in a thinly sliced pineapple slice with pomegranate seeds. There was pickled asparagus and rhubarb. And best of all, was the hazelnut brittle.
As if that wasn’t enough, next we were served a rich porcini risotto with white truffles topped with a morel mushroom stuffed with asparagus and bell pepper purée. It was like this unexpected amazingness!
Lastly we enjoyed a butternut squash and candy cap mushroom pie with a candy rum snowball on top and a candy cap mushroom.
By the end of the meal, we were just blown away. For every course, Chris came out and told us about each item and it was clear he had put a lot of thought into these vegan dishes which were all off-​menu. From start to finish, we were amazed at the unusual flavor pairings and impressed with the complexity of the dishes. The wine was incredibly good as well. For $ 65 per person, this meal was incredibly reasonable and I would highly recommend a visit to this restaurant to complement your visit to the wine country. I only hope I will have the honor to return sometime soon.

We came here early for our reservation at 5:30pm after finishing wine tasting in the area, and while we weren’t actually hungry, having just finished lunch at 2:30pm, our minds were mesmerized by the idea that the Joel Palmer House specialized in truffle and all things mushroom. Even the non-​hungry thus must partake in this adventure for the senses.
A coworker had suggested this place to me earlier this year having said «the chef is a truffle farmer, nuff said.» But during my first visit to Oregon, I hadn’t rented a car and was unable to get to here, being about 1 hour outside of Portland. During this trip my travel companion decided it would be great to be my chauffeur all weekend (loved it) and dining here would be high on the list of things to do. Located in a beautiful old house the atmosphere was intimate and cosy.
Having just come from wine tasting, I opted for an ice tea. Our water glasses also never were empty throughout the meal. The staff and service was impeccable and extremely helpful.
Our eyes ate more than our bellies off the menu. We each opted for the 3 course tasting menu, supplemented by 3 appetizers. Yes, 3 and 3. And this is us being not hungry. Started with a half dozen oysters, which were fresh from the Oregon bay, I forget what type they were, but they were mid-​sized and this really creamy/​buttery texture. Served with a pinot noir mignonette with a pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon, they were extremely tasty.
Then we had the foie gras 2 ways. Pan seared and poached, with candy cap mushroom infused caramelized onion, black truffle and port reduction, pinot poached pear, and brioche. The brioche for both was excellent and the pear complimented the richness of the foie gras very nicely. It was an indulgent treat as California has the ban on foie gras.
While visiting one of the wineries nearby and mentioning we were going to the Joel Palmer House, one of the sommeliers had mentioned a must get was the wild mushroom risotto served with oregon white truffle oil. It was so good. Had we not been full, our dinner could have consisted of a heaping plate of this, and I would have been satisfied.
This is all before our actual dinner commenced, of course.
For dinner, I ordered the soup of the day. A cauliflower purée, with truffle oil on top, as the server brought out the shaver and a white truffle I nearly giggled in anticipation. In my mind I had hoped that she would shave the entire thing into my soup, but honestly that would have been a little gauche. The flavors were quite smooth and melded well.
For my main I ordered the Top Sirloin Of Nw Elk served over lentils with pinot noir pepper demi-​glacé, roasted garlic/​candy cap mushroom glazed carrots. The wine country in near Portland is known for their pinot, as the climate supports the maturation of those types of grapes best, thus many of the dishes at Joel Palmer House use pinot quite a bit as a flavoring. For me the lentils were a bit salty, but generally the dish was served well, the meat was lean and extremely tender. My company got the beef stroganoff, and I have to say, I think that was the winner for main courses. The sauce was superb with the tender well cooked meat and seasoning.
For dessert I ordered the crème brulée with essence of candy cap mushroom. I devoured all of it. The candy cap mushroom also gives a bit of a maple flavoring to the dish.
We were extremely happy with the dinner, and glad we planned our day’s activities around our reservation here. If you’re in the area, the Joel Palmer House is definitely worthy of a visit.