My first official review of a restaurant appeared in The Commercial Appeal’s Playbook section in February 1988. It was about the short-lived Luau restaurant at the airport.
My last review, of Currents, appears today, a bit more than 20 years — and many great and not so great meals — later.
That’s a long time to write about and review restaurants in the same city, but it’s also a length of time that provides perspective on the region and its dining out habits and the cycles of growth and development in the restaurant community.
Twenty years ago, Memphis was largely a meat and potatoes town. While La Tourelle and Chez Philippe provided classic French cuisine, most Memphians in a celebratory mood dined on steak and lobster or Italian-American fare or variations on Creole food. Ethnic cuisine meant chop suey and egg foo young or enchiladas at Panchos. I used to write that the city could support eight fine-dining restaurants, and if a new one opened, an old one would close.
That’s no longer the case. However we define fine dining or white-tablecloth restaurants, by food or atmosphere or price, such establishments proliferate from Downtown Memphis out to Collierville. And ethnic cuisine? There’s the area where the real change has occurred. An influx of immigrants from Southeast Asia and the sub-continent brought our town and region Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian and Indian restaurants, while Chinese restaurants have greatly improved. The succeeding influx of Hispanic transplants brought family-owned places, especially in northeast and southeast Memphis, where the authentic food resembles what a real family would have on the table at dinner.
It’s been gratifying to witness these changes in the local dining scene and to participate and write about them. I couldn’t begin to count or even remember the numerous times I’ve taken a bite of some new dish or been introduced to a new concept, whether humble or refined, from the Pie Lady all the way to Erling Jensen, and thought, “Wow, yes, this is what good eating is all about.”
It’s been good, it’s been bad, and it’s been ugly. In 20 years I’ve had a death threat from a restaurant owner — serious enough that the CA provided security for me for a short while (the budget was better then); a letter from an attorney barring me from entering his client’s establishment; a waiter who illustrated what a lamb shank is by raising one foot, pulling up his trouser leg and pointing to his shin. I’ve had waiters sing to me, kneel by the table, and even pull up a chair, sit down and tell me their life story. I’ve had waiters argue that I pronounced the names of ingredients wrong, that I didn’t know how wine needed to be served, that I didn’t understand the relative doneness of steaks, that I was ordering the wrong dish. I’ve written reviews so glowing that the restaurant couldn’t deal with the increase in customers and had to close, and I’ve written — very rarely — reviews so negative that the result was the same.
And, inevitably, I’ve come to some conclusions about dining out and the restaurant business.
1. Most restaurants are woefully undercapitalized when they open. Chances are you won’t make a profit for three or even five years; be prepared for hard times.
2. Most problems with service are the result of improper training. When waiters flub the basic or finer points of taking orders, serving food and wine and clearing the table, it’s usually because they haven’t been told how to act. It’s management’s responsibility. On the other hand, when your waiter says, “Hi, guys, my name is Steve,” he has been told to do that.
3. The spirit that prevails in the kitchen influences the dining room. Chefs, owners and managers who concentrate on their jobs, watch the details, handle their staffs respectfully and enjoy what they’re doing help create an amenable atmosphere that spreads through the restaurant. I’ve seen restaurants ruined by chefs who wanted to spend more time in the dining room shmoozing with patrons than in the kitchen taking care of business.
4. Restaurants are growing more expensive, yet so many of these fine dining or white tablecloth establishments offer variations of the same menus and similar dishes. What’s in it for the diner plunking down $35 for an entree?
5. As awareness of wine has grown in the region, restaurant wine lists have expanded beyond the roster of usual suspects. Excellent examples are the all-Italian list at Bari and the eclectic, helpful list at Circa.
I love eating in restaurants — current favorites are Cafe 1912, Bari, Saigon Le, Umai, and the bar at Interim — but I’ll admit that I — and that means “we” — won’t mind staying at home for awhile. In our house, the ambience, the service and the food are always terrific. Plus there are dogs and cats.
I’ll conclude this look back at 20 years with a retrospective on some restaurants I reviewed (a few several times) that meant a lot to me but that closed during my tenure as restaurant reviewer at The CA. I will always miss these places:
La Tourelle; Wally Joe; KoTo; Restaurant Raji; Mick’s (no kidding); Aubergine; Bistro 122; Puck’s; Midtown; Hemmings; 25 Belvedere; Ben’s.
Eating adventures
Responses to “Goodbye to All That Dining”
March 7th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Fredric -
It has been a pleasure reading your reviews over the years. I am 33 years old and grew up in Memphis in a household that always enjoyed food, but leaned towards the traditional, southern, family style fare. There’s nothing wrong with that, but over the years I have broadened my palate with ethnic and finer cuisine, and I want to thank you for being a part of that. Your reviews would often be the first that I heard of a new restaurant in town and helped introduce me to varied ethnic cuisine. You helped turn me into quite a foodie.
Your conclusions about the restaurant business in Memphis are right on. I am particularly disturbed by the rising prices on menus in finer establishments even for relatively inexpensive ingredients and simple preparations. Raising a family, it is becoming increasingly difficult for my me and my wife to justify spending the kind of money that it costs to go to a nicer place for dinner without the kids. I suppose it makes it more of a treat, but we would love to be able to dine more frequently at our favorite places and support locally owned fine dining.
Anyway, thanks again for your contributions and insight into Memphis dining scene.
March 7th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I am sick! Say it isn’t so!
One of the highlights of my week is to read your review- even though I never know which week you will be writing and which week another reviewer will be.
If Jennifer is taking over all of the restaurant reviews, I do hope she will become more critical. Is the CA hiring another food writer? It seems like a lot of “away from home” time to review restaurants, and I believe she has a child at home.
Can you give us any more scoop?
March 7th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Mr. Koeppel,
I will truly miss your reviews. Although many criticisms have been hurled at you for your critiques, you were a refreshing voice that reminded us that the bar for fine dining could be placed higher. I hope that you will continue to contribute to the Dining scene in Memphis in some way for many years to come.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Being a critic often makes you the least or most popular person in the room, depending upon perspective, of course. Twenty years is a good run at it. Best wishes for a fruitful and productive future.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:11 am
This day can be described with one famous historic quote: ” free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we’re free at last.” We are finally free from reading the idiotic scribbles of F.K. Unfortunately, these writings have somehow managed to find their way into the pages of the C.A. for the last 20 years. If you are looking for praise Mr. Koeppel, I will be happy to give them to you. I will praise you for helping to cripple local restaurants with your inconsistent, flawed reviews. I will also praise you for having a weak palette and lack of food knowledge. I know this blog seems like an attack; it is. I guess after attacking restaurants for 20 years, you are finally owed one. Oh,and by the way, have a great day!
March 7th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Lj…did you skip the chapter in the book of etiquette about not saying anything if you can’t say something kind?
March 7th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Mr. Koeppel,
We’ve never met, except through newsprint, but you have educated me, entertained me, enraged me, and excited me. Its been my pleasure to read your writings and I will miss them. Enjoy your time at home, but please, eat out once in a while and share your experience with us.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I am crushed! Not being a native of Memphis I’ve had to learn to love the CA following stints in other large cities in the South (one only has to pick up an edition of the Clarion-Ledger to fully appreciate the CA) the one thing that helped me bond was your Friday review - I even thought the pairing with Leslie was perfectly balanced and that you were gracious in your acceptance of her to the fold - Jennifer is nice, sweet and a little too “it’s all good” for my taste - maybe we can organize a grass-roots effort to pay you to continue to review restaurants on your own web-site ? Your voice (and opinion) will be missed !
March 7th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I can’t say that I’m sad to see you go FK. You were a dilettante when it came to restaurants and never took the time or initiative to become truly acquainted with fine dining/cuisine. Instead, you played favorites; accepting (and even demanding)free meals and perks from any mediocre restaurant that would offer them. Perhaps if I hadn’t lived in other cities such as Washington DC where I read The Washington Post’s Phyllis Richmond’s column, I wouldn’t have noticed what a dreadful writer you really were.
Signed,
Still have a bad taste in my mouth….
March 7th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
All that fun & getting paid for it too! The question in my mind is this - if the above detractors were so unhappy with your reviews, why did they keep reading? I wish you & LL the best, FK.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Fredric is not retiring–he’s just moving on to other duties at the CA. You’ll still see his byline frequently in the M section and I know he’ll be on the blog; in fact, I’ve asked him to be the expert for our March 20 wine tasting and he’s agreed.
No one will miss him more than I will. He’s been helpful to me as I’ve felt my way along the review path this first year, and it’s a pleasure when he hands me his fine copy for the Food section. He’s also been a nice cubicle companion–oops!–did I say nice???? Must be confusing him with me…
By the way, Elizabeth, my fully grown daughter (she’s lived on her own for years) called me when she read your comment. She laughed and said she’ll be happy to give you the phone number of her therapist if you don’t think I know how to be critical. She’s joking, but I’m not: FK, thanks for your help and your friendship.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I’m a bit sad to see Fredric leave this particular section of the CA. We haven’t always agreed on restaurants or specific approaches to a particular food/cuisine, but I’ve appreciated reading his views and strong opinions about a subject that is, obviously, very much a matter of personal taste.
Best of luck to you in your other journalistic endeavors Fredric; and to you as well with the increased workload, Jennifer!
March 7th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Dear Bad Taste,
FK never accepted a free meal, and on the rare, embarrassing and dreaded occasion when a restaurant attempted to comp one, he would hang in until the bill was paid.
It’s amazing how people can trump up stuff out of zero information and a slop bucket of vituperation. Fredric must not have endorsed your opinion of an enterprise close to your pocketbook or heart. Alas, restaurants only get two visits, two meals each, and if they don’t do well…that’s the experience the reviewer has to work with. At the NYT, the reviewer can go to a restaurant many times over months and take a table full of friends every time. That’s probably a fairer system, but that’s not the CA’s way. And, for what it’s worth, Fredric is against the star system, which no one interprets correctly (i.e. one star equals “good” not “gross,” as most people seem to think), and it inappropriately equates experiences at highly disparate eating establishments. He thinks people should read the reviews and come to their own conclusions about whether the restaurant is interesting to them, as was the situation before an editorial decision some years ago.
How do I get my information? I’ve been going to restaurants with him pretty regularly for 18 years. We’ve been married for 7 of them, just to be clear about the relationship. Long before that and long before we met, we were both widely experienced diners (in many places, including SF, LA, NY and DC) and students of food, wine and cooking, and we still are. It’s not a job for me, and it’s not merely a job for Fredric; it’s a pleasurable and serious pursuit. It’s been fun, mostly, to be the “companion.” There have been many wonderful meals, more pretty good ones, some near misses or puzzling fumbles, and an occasional disaster. I don’t expect any of that to change, including, especially, the fun.
As for you, Bad Taste, at least you got that right.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
LL
I could provide specific examples of both you and FK accepting comps. However, that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the fact that you and he both served to lower the level of reporting (and thus appreciation) of food, literature and the arts in the Mid-South for so many years. Hopefully a much needed fresh perspective will emerge - thus providing all Mid-Southerners a happy ending.
Don’t go away mad…just go away….
March 7th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
LL,
Not a very professional response to the end of an era on this blog, spouse or not. Nasty words for FK or for fellow bloggers does not bode well for ending on a high note. Critics need to have tough skin just as those they criticize.
Best wishes to all.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Where is there a cambodian restaurant? We’re relatively new to town and I love Cambodian cuisine. Thanks.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Fredric, I always learned something in your reviews. I was a guy in the 80’s that thought wine was MD 20/20, but you cultured me up.
I never ate anything exotic, and then I was trying things and places you reviewed. My parents even learned by trying the doggy bags I brought home.
The culmination of my growth comes oddly from my 80 year old dad. He said just the other day: :I’m going to try that new chinese buffet and see all the things that I learned from your takeouts.
I hope you will continue your timely contributions on food and wine.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Fredric!
Say it ain’t so! Yea, you were hard on the restaurants, but FK not reviewing anymore? Sacrilege! I may never be able to eat again. Expletive. You will be missed.
Subject change: your wife sounds wonderful. A definite 4 stars for her.
Another subject change: My only gripe with you dates (WAY BACK) to your days at MSU. Yeah, MSU. You were my first class, first instructor there. I thought YES!!! This is great, what college was rumored to be. It was lots of thought, perspective and as close to fun as school could have been imagined. I still, 35 years later, have the textbook. I still look at the textbook. Shame on you! You brainwashed me. No class, any school, any subject ever compared. The remainder of my education was as dismally boring as the first 12 years.
Back on point, I will miss your restaurant writeups but look forward to whatever assignments (please let it be book reviews!)the CA deigns to give you.
Bottom line, I’ve enjoyed you and your work. Don’t let it end!
March 7th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
OK, Bad Taste,
Do it. Provide the specific examples. If you don’t, you are a reprehensible coward, and no one on this blog or any where else should regard you with anything other than contempt.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Fredric,
Wow! Has it been that long? I have thoroughly enjoyed your reviews through the years. They have constantly been thoughtful, insightful, and most of all, fair. Your open-minded enjoyment of cuisine whether it is classic, exotic, ethnic, or cutting edge made you a food critic in the truest sense. I always looked forward to reading your opinions on the details of service, food preparation, and decor on the latest and “greatest” restaurants in town. Your insightful opinions combined with your humorous observations will be missed. I think Jennifer is a great counterpart will continue to do a wonderful job. Let’s hope that if anyone takes your place, it won’t be one as bad as the last debacle of a so-called critic that was at the CA.
Oh, for the record, FK and LL never accepted a comp from me.
Charles, dude, did you get a bad review from way back? If so, maybe you or your friend, associate, or partner deserved it. Get over it and move on man. Fredric is more than fair. I think he was way too generous more than a few times.
Fredric, you will be missed and I hope to continue our dialogue of food and wine for many years to come.
March 8th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I’ve been reading your reviews for the past 20 years, and I’ve learned a great deal about food and dining. Thanks.
March 8th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I have always looked forward to reading your reviews and will greatly miss them.
March 8th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I was very dissapointed to read the news that you were no longer doing the reviews. Friday morning was the only day I would read the paper before leaving the house, and the very first place I turned was to the restaurant review.
Although I didn’t always agree with you, your food and wine knowledge was something I envied. I wish I could have eaten at all of the places you visited. I ate vicariously through you!
Surely they are doing away with the dining reviews? Jennifer is OK, but why keep an ameteur when you could have the pro (NO disrespect to Jennifer, BTW)?
Good job, and I will miss you.
March 8th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Fredric - Warm and hearty congratulations for raising the taste bar in Memphis with your incisive restaurant reviews over the years. I have enjoyed a great many of your commentaries and try to make it a point to at least give a try to those you like and to steer well clear of those you fault. Eating well when eating out is one of life’s pleasures that I suspect many CA readers pursue with higher expectations since you have been writing for the hometown audience. Good luck in whatever your next stop in the newsroom may be. Cheers and regards, Lewis Nolan
March 9th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Thank you, Lewis, you always represent the side of civilization and good taste, and I appreciate your comments and the fact that you signed your name.
And let me add this note: Everyone starts in the business of restaurant reviewing as an amateur, but an amateur in the original sense, as one who loves something and engages in that activity with a sense of devotion and awareness. There is no school for restaurant critics; what is required are passion, intelligence, curiosity, knowledge, a love of food and ingredients and cooking and, of course, objectivity and fairness. A shelf of reference books about the world’s cuisines doesn’t hurt, and we’re lucky at the CA to have many of those, which I use often, especially when writing about ethnic food or to check the elements in a classic French sauce. If I became a pro at the job, it was because of work and thinking and investigating and writing. The present dining critic for the New York Times is Frank Bruni, previously a political writer in Rome. He succeeded Williams Grimes, who had been a general assignment reporter. Most restaurant reviewers begin in some similar fashion. Neither was “trained” as a dining critic. And remember that restaurant reviewing isn’t just about the food and the cooking, though those parts are the most important. Almost as important, though, are the service and the atmosphere, the entire package of expectations presented by a restaurant, its menu, its look, its overall tone. The dining critic deals with all of those qualities and then tries to evoke them for the reader. Whether readers agree with the assessment doesn’t matter, as many of the responders to this post point out; what matters is the detail and dimension of the review and its ability to make readers say, “I’ll think I’ll try this place,” or “Let’s give this one a pass.” That’s what I tried to do for 20 years.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
You will be missed. Whether you stepped into my restaurant to write a review, write a story, or just for a casual lunch or dinner, it was always a pleasure. Get out of the house once in awhile and have dinner out still.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Fredric -
I enjoyed reading your reviews over the years and learned much from you about food (and wine and books and culture in general). Thanks for being fair-minded while avoiding the “Southern Living” (every place is wonderful) approach. I am sure you took some heat from the CA over the years - your ad manager could not have been too happy with some of the reviews. We will miss your food writing in the CA but will look forward to reading your comments on this blog and http://biggerthanyourhead.net.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Fredric,
As a rare person, who has been in both areas, food and wine of your reviewer’s pen. I must tell you I have known you as nothing but fare and balanced. I have been the Chef or Sous Chef at a number of restaurants you have reviewed. Some good. Some not so good. I must tell every reader here. When Fredric came into the first restaurant I cooked in to review, The King Cotton Café, the owner noticed him right away. We were all put on notice this had better be great! Then he tried to comp the meal and Fredric absolutely refused and insisted on paying. It took him almost 30 minutes before the bill was given to him. So as far as I know he always pays.
And as a wine reviewer some times we disagree and others we agree 100%. Like to much oak in California Chardonnay, agree. However, still fare and balanced. Enjoy whatever it is you are going to.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Oh, Yes. People who review anything, restaurants, wine,film ,etc. should be on the up and up about who they are and what affiliations he or she may have. Who would believe such silly garbage about Koeppel and free meals anyway.
Integrity is key. You are so right. It’s only “fare”.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:50 am
FK: didn’t always agree with your reviews after visiting the restaurants, but you were always interesting and “objective” in your reviews. We’ll miss you.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I can only assume that the CA reimburses its reviewers for the meals they eat when reviewing restaurants, thus eliminating any personal gain from having a meal comped.
Good luck with your future endeavors FK!
March 11th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
You’re absolutely right, Stacey, which makes this accusation all the more absurd.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Thank you, Fredric, for 18 ½ years of the most pleasurable reading possible - that’s how long I’ve lived in Memphis and how long I’ve been reading your restaurant reviews. They were the first thing I looked for each Friday in the Playbook, which will never be the same. Never.
The reviews were beautifully written, witty, and consistently even-handed because of your care to quantify both your praise and criticism. Through you, we learned about the new and just as important were reminded of the old as you revisited many restaurants that managed to survive and thrive.
Although there’s much to remember, first and foremost was your describing an inordinately long wait in a restaurant by quoting an Ira Gershwin song, “In time the Rockies may tumble; Gibraltar may crumble….” That kind of talent, and I’m not talking about Gershwin here, cannot be replaced.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Jennifer- I just assumed when you talked about your daughter, she was young! Never occurred to me…
Duh…
March 12th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Elizabeth, so far I’m pretty much of the opinion that they never grow up…
My daughter and I spend a lot of time together; she’s an only child and she lives nearby, plus she stayed with us a couple of months ago following knee surgery. That could well have been where you got the idea that she was young. In any event, she got TOO hearty a laugh from that.
Briefly, I want to mention again that it is the policy of the CA–and has been for several years now–that we don’t write negative restaurant reviews. If we have a bad meal, we pay and leave, and never write a word. The policy is not without flaw, but it also has merit. People presumably want to read about places we recommend instead of those we don’t like, right?
There will be an adjustment to the stars coming, and I’ll continue to review restaurants. I’ll be on my own for the time being, but hopefully there will be two of us again soon.
March 12th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Holy moly, my last review ran a brief five days ago and already you’re changing the star system? is there no respect?
March 12th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
He’s messin’ with us. We’ve had many a discussion over the stars. In fact, there was a time when FK did reviews without stars, period. But now everyone wants info at a glance, I guess–although many people have never taken the time to understand what the stars mean. Even in my short career I’ve had hateful emails and phone calls (OK, short as a dining reviewer–it’s been plenty long otherwise) about the stars. I gave one star to Kaloum, an African restaurant on Winchester that serves food good enough to warrant a review but had consistency and service issues. You’da thunk I killed a puppy! (Speaking of, anyone looking for a great pup I found that desperately needs a home??? Say the word and I’ll send pics…)
March 13th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Jennifer,
You mention that the CA doesn’t allow negative reviews, but I know I’ve read reviews written by FK that were not favorable. Maybe not “I will never set foot in this place again”, but reviews most people would call negative. Your statement confuses me.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Hi, Kara, I don’t blame you for being confused. I used to write negative reviews when I thought they were justified, but the policy changed in 2003, and the Playbbok began running reviews only of restaurants that we could recommend, even if only minimally. Remember: One Star means Good!
yeah, Jennifer, I was only joshin’!
March 13th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I have always enjoyed reading your reviews. It’s been a great 9 years that I have lived in Memphis, you introduced me to all the restaurants I love today. I will miss your reviews!
March 13th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Boy, FK and LL must be (and are, from my experience) standouts to get this level of praise and vitriol. I will miss reading your witty (and on target) restaurant reviews, and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
43 comment.