Executive Chef

Joel Stocks is a Portland native who has been cooking professionally from the age of 15. After attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York, he spent years traveling and working in kitchens around the country and world. In the broad culinary world his adventures have taken him through the kitchens of The French Laundry, Alinea, Willow's Inn, The Herb Farm, Restaurant Arzak, Graham Elliot, and Mirazur. In the Portland culinary world he has worked at Park Kitchen, Noble Rot, The Bent Brick, 50 Plates, JoPa, and most notably Holdfast, a restaurant he co-owned and ran for nearly seven years. After Holdfast's closure due to the Covid pandemic, Joel started up JEM Supper Club out of his detached garage, hosting intimate tasting menu filled evenings with his wife Emily. His newest project is L'Orange, a small wine-focused restaurant in Portland's Ladd's Addition neighborhood.

Chef

Squeaky cheese and spotted cows and the mighty Mississippi.

A paper toque and a bloody cravat, and the lovely Mr. Miller.

50 plates of old faithfuls, a songbird in a Fausse Piste bottle, a volcanic eruption of Coquine cookies.

A pitbull playing euchre.

A corked wife throwing crickets at a dart board.

A snake with a fitting name.

Chef

California grown
with hearty Chamorro roots
blooming in Oregon

I grew up in the Straits of Mackinac and got hooked on working in restaurants in 1998. I earned a bachelor's degree in Food Service Management and Nutrition at Central Michigan University, which included a summer as pastry cook in The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. After graduating, I moved to the Loire Valley in France for a stint as the hospitality manager at a centuries-old B&B in a tiny village called Pontlevoy. It was there I became obsessed with fine wines, provincial French food, farmers markets and lush river valleys. I knew that when it was time to come back to the states in 2007, Portland was the only place for me.

Here I’ve been a bread baker, pastry cook, line cook, server and general manager. In 2013, I opened The Brooklyn House Restaurant, serving small farm-direct European style comfort food. After 4 beautiful years, I closed the restaurant to start a family with my life partner. Now that my kid is in school, I’m back with my first love and passion….serving farm-direct French comfort food in an adorable old house with incredibly talented people, extremely fine wines and overwhelmingly delightful guests. I couldn’t possibly be more thrilled to be working with this team, serving this food to these guests. Life is sweet.

“The Winesman”

Owner. Renaissance man. Our in house janitor, designer, wine buyer, host, handyman, and painter. He's also the Winemaker for Golden Cluster, Vinous Obscura, DIONYSTIC, On Wine Hill, Ordeaux, and Wine Conduit. Is a Holdfast Dining alum. I’m very excited to be reunited with my friends and colleagues.

Wine Server

Chris grew up in a small town just south of St. Louis, Missouri.  After college, he moved to Chicago, Illinois and started working in restaurants. Wine quickly became a passion.  He took advantage of trade tastings, seminars and classes to further his wine knowledge.

In 2004, Chris worked his first wine crush and that was it; the PNW was where he needed to be!

Chris has lived in Portland since 2007. When he is not working you can find him on the golf course or spending time with his partner, Kathy, and their two dogs, Paloma and Porkchop.