Dining Out: Chez Philippe

Keith Clinton brings a taste of Memphis to The Peabody’s French fine-dining restaurant.

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Every day for over eight decades now, The Peabody ducks march from the elevator to their private fountain in the stately hotel’s lobby. With nearly the same regularity, Memphians and their guests over the years, looking to impress, relax, do business, or celebrate, have walked through the doors and headed straight for the fine-dining comforts of Chez Philippe. The four-star restaurant has long been the hotel’s standard bearer for classy, almost nostalgic food and service. Now, after a brief hiatus, Chez Philippe has a renewed focus on its local roots thanks to new chef de cuisine Keith Clinton, the first Memphis native to helm the kitchen.

Clinton had been working as a private chef when a representative from The Peabody first reached out to his wife, Meredith, the current sous chef at Bog & Barley, about joining the Chez Philippe culinary team. “That wasn’t quite what she was looking for, so she passed the phone to me. I missed service, being part of the line, and just general experimentation in the kitchen.”

Clinton had some catching up to do; Chez Philippe closed in March 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, and after a two-and-a-half-year break, reopened in late 2022. During its closure, the hotel redesigned the interior with a more open, airy aesthetic, but guests can still gaze up at the palatial masquerade murals adorning the walls. The reimagined restaurant changed in more ways than appearance, too, placing new emphasis on its seven-course tasting menu. Working within those parameters has been exhilarating for Clinton.

“A tasting menu gives people a lot of room to explore, and it gives me an opportunity to incorporate new ideas, so it’s a win-win,” he says. “My focus was to come in and add to this concept. You sit down, and we promise to give you something that’s seasonal, something with red meat, something you’ve never seen before, and a bunch of extra little things.”

Diners might recognize Clinton thanks to his years at Erling Jensen: The Restaurant (or his appearance on the Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games in 2019). With a background at one of Memphis’ most respected restaurants, he was a natural fit for Chez Philippe. But he also wanted to make sure that The Peabody would allow him room to experiment.

“We want to engage with our diners, learn their stories and what brings them to Memphis, and find out exactly what they want in a meal. Giving something that is hyper-personalized to a guest is a challenge that we’re happy to take on.”

— Keith Clinton

“I have that French culinary background, but they also allow me to explore other types of cuisines,” he says. “I’ve always been looking for a place to research and develop dishes, spend time going to markets and foraging for ingredients, and really home in on certain things that maybe I wasn’t super comfortable with and work at it.”

Rather than take a quarterly seasonal approach, he plans to switch up selections as soon as new ingredients become available. Indeed, in the two weeks between my visit to Chez Philippe and our interview, some of the menu items had already been replaced, and courses may even change day to day. “I don’t want two visits to be the same,” says Clinton. “I each guest to have a unique experience when they come in.”

During my visit, Clinton successfully fused several disparate ingredients for the first course, a tuna crudo dish. The bright pink color and meatier texture of the tuna cuts popped when contrasted with the soft bites of green avocado. But the exclamation marks of the dish were several slices of glistening grapefruit; expecting a bitter bite, I was pleasantly surprised to find only sweetness. Is this sorcery?

“I actually used to hate grapefruit,” remarked Clinton as he approached the table and poured a cherry blossom shoyu glaze over the opener, adding a sweeter umami to the collection of flavors. “I’d overlooked this citrus for a long time, but challenged myself to start incorporating it more into my cooking.” As for how he removes the bitter acidity? “Salt,” says Clinton. “We segment the grapefruit, press what’s left of it, and then let the slices marinate in the juice with a little bit of salt. It refines the flavor, and really intensifies it.” After gobbling it up, the leftover jus in the bowl makes for its own delectable kind of digestif.

In addition to the seven-course prix-fixe menu, Clinton has put together a smaller, four-course menu. And rather than four fixed courses, each section offers diners multiple options. With slight changes to the menu coming so frequently, guests should embrace the surprise when booking a reservation. And ordering the four- or seven-course menu with the curated wine pairing adds a nice buzz to proceedings. Our server, Chris Brown, talked us through each pour and explained how it meshed with the dish.

Yes, The Peabody’s 150th anniversary burger is back on the menu, as well. For $150, guests can get the royal wagyu truffle burger on a brioche bun with butter poached lobster, caramelized onions, St. André cheese, huckleberry aioli, parmesan black truffle fries, and half a bottle of Caymus Vineyards’ cabernet sauvignon. Whew.

Some of the surprises on Clinton’s menu take advantage of ideas he’s picked up from his fine-dining history. The ‘risotto’ on our tasting menu did away with rice as a base, instead offering steamed sunflower seeds that offer a similar texture, but with (unsurprisingly) a nuttier taste in every bite. There’s a simplicity to the dish thanks to a topping of shaved porcini mushrooms mixed with butter, but Clinton felt it needed a bit more. His sous chef recommended they add Green Goddess dressing, giving a bit of heft and tang to the risotto. “I started working on this recipe back at Erling Jensen,” says Clinton. “And it’s evolved a lot, but I really like the idea of having this old dish combined with new ideas I’ve come across.”

As Chez Philippe’s first Memphis-raised chef, Clinton looks at his local roots as an advantage. “I know what we can do. I know what our farmers can do,” says Clinton. “I’ve got a really good beat on the best local ingredients in the area, and that’s something I love to share with diners, especially those from out of town. For the locals, I can say, ‘These tomatoes come from Marla’s Farm from the Cooper-Young Farmers Market, or these apples come from Jones Orchard,’ and it gives them a point of reference.”

Scouting high-quality ingredients is one of Clinton’s favorite parts of the job. One of his sourcing secrets is the Viet Hoa Market on Cleveland, which he calls a “hidden gem” for its robust produce selection. His team also frequents every farmers market in the city to build connections with local growers.

“Once you have those relationships, they’ll start to set aside things for you,” says Clinton. “One farmer put aside a super small batch of peppers we couldn’t find in Memphis. The menu reflects those little creative additions.”

Clinton is a frequent presence in the dining room, walking around and chatting with guests. Since his arrival, the Chez Philippe team also researches their guests ahead of time. I received a text the morning of my reservation asking about dietary restrictions. My allergy to all nuts and peanuts was no issue; Clinton prepared individual substitutes just for me whenever a course involved nuts.

Creating a personalized experience is the crux of Clinton’s mission at Chez Philippe. “I had one guest who we found out loved cotton candy,” he says. “We have a cotton candy machine at The Peabody, so as they were leaving, we presented them with some we’d made for them. We found out another person was fond of Moose Tracks ice cream.”

That’s not on the menu, but Clinton knew how to make ice cream and prepared the treat as their dessert. “We want to engage with our diners, learn their stories and what brings them to Memphis, and find out exactly what they want in a meal,” he says. “Giving something that is hyper-personalized to a guest is a challenge that we’re happy to take on.”

Chez Philippe is open for dinner Thursday – Sunday, 5:30pm – 10pm. 149 Peabody Ave.