Keith Clinton

The Path

Early assignments at Erling Jensen The Restaurant at Erling Jensen The Restaurant and as Private Chef for a Memphis Grizzlies player (2023) helped define a style built on precision, discretion and visible restraint. Since 2023, Keith Clinton has been Head Chef of Chez Philippe, where the brief is exacting technique, patience and the handling of rare or especially well-made ingredients without overstatement.

The Work Today

The cooking language is explicit about time and sourcing: “I’ve always enjoyed cooking in some sort of luxury capacity, using extremely hard-to-find ingredients or processes that take extra time.” In practice, that means refinement held in check by freshness and balance rather than ornament for its own sake. “Acidity is something that I always look for in a dish,” Keith Clinton has said. “It’s one of the components that I think most dishes need.” That instinct shows up in the tuna crudo with avocado, cherry blossom and grapefruit, which is built as a bright opening course with lift and clarity. Other named plates and pours show range without leaving the register of the room. A beef tenderloin is paired with blue cheese espuma, almond tuille and buttermilk crumb, bringing richness, texture and contrast into the same plate. Bisap Rouge, made with Old Dominick Gin, simple syrup, hibiscus tea and hibiscus flower, takes inspiration from associates from Senegal and carries florals and spice in a contemporary format. The Tennessee Manhattan uses Old Dominick Whiskey, Antica vermouth, Punt e Mes and black walnut bitters, a darker, quieter expression with a clear sense of place. Sourcing is treated as infrastructure rather than slogan: “We try to source everything we can from growers that we know, from farms that we can visit.” That approach ties Chez Philippe back to specific growers and farms, giving the menu a local base under a fine-dining frame.

Signature

Keith's signature dishes include tuna crudo, with avocado, cherry blossom and grapefruit, Bisap Rouge, and Tennessee Manhattan.

In Their Words “I’ve always enjoyed cooking in some sort of luxury capacity, using extremely hard-to-find ingredients or processes that take extra time.” “We try to source everything we can from growers that we know, from farms that we can visit.”

Acclaim

In 2023, Clinton became the first Memphis-born chef to lead the restaurant’s kitchen.