Joe’s Farm Grill turns 20 this fall and the story behind the milestone starts well before the first burger hit the grill. It begins outside, beneath the oldest residents on the property.
Century-old tamarisk trees shade the patio at Joe’s Farm Grill, their sprawling branches a reminder of the agricultural history beneath the restaurant. Native to the Middle East and famously thirsty, the trees were planted beside the water that once irrigated the farm. “They eat tons and tons of water,” says co-owner Tim Peelen. Though well past their prime, they remain beautiful enough that the restaurant invested a quarter-million dollars in a steel patio cover designed to catch them should they ever fall…