PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL DONAHUE
L-R: Helen Wallace, manager Diana Davis, and Ruby Barnett.
Wearing a hairnet, flashing a warm smile, and demonstrating a nobody’s-a-stranger attitude, Diana Davis is the heart and soul of Renee’s Sandwich Shop.
Standing behind the cash register at the cozy downtown restaurant, Davis greets customers as if they’re regulars. Even when they’re not.
A large print of Court Square’s Hebe fountain hangs on one of the walls. Given to them by an employee, it’s the only framed picture in the place, but fancy decor isn’t what customers expect at Renee’s.
They’d rather gaze at the menu, which includes “regular or kick’n” grilled-chicken sandwiches and pancake plates with ham or steak. Breakfast and lunch are served from the time Renee’s opens at 6 a.m. until it closes at 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“We used to be on the corner of G.E. Patterson and Third,” says Davis, the restaurant’s longtime manager. “It used to be called ‘Ray Ray’s.’” The little restaurant was named after the daughter of the former owners, who were Greek. “When her parents bought it, her name was Irene Davis [no relation to Diana]. If you take the ‘I’ off, it becomes Renee.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL DONAHUE
Renee’s moved to its current location 18 years ago.
Ibrahim Yasin kept the name after he bought the restaurant about 30 years ago. That’s when Davis began working there, explaining, “He and I are best friends.”
Born in Dyersburg, Tennessee, Davis earned a degree in music from the University of Tennessee at Martin. “I taught band grades six through 12 and general music at Trezevant in Memphis and Atwood outside of Milan. When Ibrahim bought [the restaurant], I decided to quit teaching. I wanted to try food service.”
The original Renee’s Sandwich Shop didn’t look like the one they’re in now, Davis says. “It was much smaller. We didn’t have tables. We had countertops back to back, with old stools. It was what we called ‘the community table.’ When you sat down, you usually ate with somebody. Everybody talked to each other.” The menu was written on boards attached to a cord “that stretched in front of the grills.”
Yasin changed a few things inside. “We added tables and took away the countertops and the community table,” she says. The menu also was shorter before he became the owner. “They originally had burgers and what they called ‘St. Louis Smoked Sausage’ at that time — a regular smoked sausage sandwich.”
They dropped pork from the menu, because “customers said their doctors were telling them to stop eating pork.” They kept bacon, but got rid of that too after they moved to their current location 18 years ago. “We went with turkey,” says Davis.
They also added French fries, pancakes, Phillies, and club sandwiches. They don’t add new items very often, but some are unusual. “The last thing we added was mackerel,” she says. “We used to offer it and people had kind of gotten away from it, but we had a few people ask about it.”
Re-instated on the menu, the mackerel has been “a really popular item. You can get it as a sandwich or a breakfast plate.”
photograph by jack simon
The author takes a lunch break.
Davis, who cooks at Renee’s when needed, says her mother taught her to cook, while also teaching her the knack of working with the public. “That’s just how she was. She enjoyed talking to people and learning about their lives. And she never judged people. That was the main thing.
“Plus, in high school I was in DECA [Distributive Education Clubs of America], so we had to learn about customer service,” she continues. “That helped a lot. I know how I like to be treated if I’m going somewhere. I don’t want to be treated badly or anything. You like somebody to have a smile and be nice to you. That’s just how I am.”
She maintained that same philosophy when she was a teacher. Skin color didn’t matter, she says. “You’re there to help them learn and grow, and you give them the respect that they deserve. With a child, you never know what they’ve gone through and are going through. That’s the same thing with an adult. It shouldn’t matter what they look like.”
Her customers have included a lot of basketball players, Davis says. Former Memphis Grizzlies basketball player Zach “Zebo” Randolph is probably their most famous celebrity customer. They even unofficially named a sandwich, which Randolph particularly loved, after him about 16 years ago.
“It used to be called ‘No Sloppy Joe,’” she says, but Randolph wanted them to name it after him. Now friends and customers call it “The Zebo Sloppy Joe.”
Asked how many regular customers she has, Davis says, “I couldn’t even count, to be honest. Some of them I’ve known since they were young. Their parents came in, then they came in because their parents came in, and I’ve seen them grow up.”
She “rarely takes a vacation,” Davis says. “I always miss my customers when I’m gone.”
When asked if she should ever change anything at Renee’s, Davis has a quick response. “Nothing,” she says. “I think it’s perfect.”
Renee’s Sandwich Shop, 202 G.E. Patterson Avenue.
