photograph by bruce vanwyngarden
Doyle Schaeffer offers the author a “Grizz Fizz.”
RP Tracks is nestled so tightly between Walker Avenue and a curve in the railroad tracks that split the University of Memphis campus you could hop a freight from the parking lot. But don’t do that. Stay and enjoy the place.
Tracks (as the regulars call it) is a well-lit, sprawling restaurant, with a bar, three dining areas, outdoor seating, and a pool room. It’s a friendly joint with a welcoming staff, including Doyle Schaeffer, the bartender.
photograph by bruce vanwyngarden
Schaeffer is an affable, charming fellow who has found his niche here — but not before leaving Memphis to see some of the world. The Frayser native played guitar in a jazz band at Kingsbury High School, then parlayed that experience into gigs with several bands in Memphis and Nashville, before taking his music on the road — or, better said, to the waves — with the B.B. King Blues Club at Sea band.
“I was living in Nashville then,” Schaeffer says, “and I decided to explore the world a bit and break out of my shell. It was a real learning experience.”
“Sometimes you become a poor man’s psychiatrist. I get to meet and talk to all kinds of interesting people from all walks of life. I love it when I meet a stranger and make them, say, a Tom Collins or something and they just start to spill their personal story.” — Doyle Schaeffer
But Memphis called him home about 10 years ago, when he began working as a server and bartender at Midtown’s Bayou restaurant, and then at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown, before finding himself behind the bar at Tracks in 2016.
“I live in this area, and I’d been a regular at Tracks for years,” he says. “I knew the staff and management, so when the Marriott didn’t prove to be as lucrative as I’d hoped, I just applied here and got a job.”
Now, as he puts it, a “crisp 35,” Doyle finally feels at home. “This place is like the Memphis ‘Cheers,’” he says. “People think it’s a student bar — and we do get students — but we also get faculty, administrators, people from the neighborhood, and even families. The clientele is always changing, and in some ways, not changing. I’d like to write a TV show about this place; it’s got so much character.”
A look around the restaurant on a recent May afternoon bears out Schaeffer’s description. There’s a family at one table, with two kids munching on French fries. A couple of regulars hold down one end of the bar, talking Grizzlies with a waitress. Four college kids are playing pool in the far room. Very “Cheers”-y. Very comfortable.
photograph by bruce vanwyngarden
I ask Doyle what’s the best thing about being a bartender? He’s quick with a response.
“I’d say it’s just making connections with people,” he says. “It’s a cliché, but sometimes you become a poor man’s psychiatrist. I get to meet and talk to all kinds of interesting people from all walks of life. I love it when I meet a stranger and make them, say, a Tom Collins or something and they just start to spill their personal story. I can get to know everything about someone, and then they leave and I might never see them again. It’s bizarre and cool at the same time.”
Schaeffer looks at my beer and says, “What kind of cocktail do you like?”
“I’ll like whatever you’d feel like making for me,” I reply. “I’m not too choosy.”
Schaeffer gets to work putting together a drink called the “Grizz Fizz.”
“It’s got equal parts gin and Curaçao,” he says. “Then I add lime juice, a little carbonated grapefruit juice for fizz, and a lemon twist. I created it for a friend I trust to be honest, and he told me it was good.”
Schaeffer places a martini glass in front of me. The drink is blue, with a bright lemon peel floating in the middle. It takes me a minute to realize the cocktail matches the Grizzlies’ team colors. Very clever — and very good! There’s a little tingle from the grapefruit fizz, a touch of citrus from the lime juice, and a punch of gin concealed in there somewhere. It goes down as smooth as a Desmond Bane jumper.
Just like a conversation with Doyle Schaeffer.
RP Tracks is located at 3547 Walker, 901-327-1471.
