Lernard Chambers – Memphis Flyer

You could say The Genre Memphis’ genre is “Classy.” With a capital “C.”

Lernard Chambers, 31, who owns the restaurant with his twin brother Bernard Chambers, recently redesigned the restaurant at 200 Poplar Avenue, Suite 105, and gave it a “whole new look.” Customers will get to see the changes September 20th.

A new 15-seater bar greets customers when they enter. “It’s pretty much an L-shaped bar,” Lernard says.

The top of the 40-foot long bar is black epoxy with hints of blue and gray. Green plastic boxwood covers the front and the sides. Booths and tables have been refigured and artwork graces the walls.

Lernard worked with Ella Mag Design Studio to come up with the modern look he wanted. Erica Kelsey, the studio’s owner, also “freestyled and did her own thing.”

He wants his customers “to feel like they’re not here in Memphis. She already had that concept, so she took it and ran with it.”

Lernard, who opened The Genre Memphis three years ago, leased an adjacent space he calls “The Garage” about three months ago. “The Garage is pretty much like an event space, but it’s also like a bar and a multi-purpose event space, like an overflow room.”

When people ask him where The Genre Memphis and The Garage are located, Lernard says, “Everything is across from the jail.” That’s the Walter L. Bailey Jr. Criminal Justice Center, which houses the Shelby County Jail, aka “201 Poplar.”

To get to The Garage, Lernard says, “You pretty much go out the back door [of The Genre Memphis] and The Garage is to the left, adjacent to the restaurant.”

He and his brother were aware of the space, which was just a vacant building, when they began leasing The Genre Memphis. But, Lernard says, “We didn’t want to grow too big too fast.”

“The Garage” doesn’t mean the building had been a garage, Lernard says. “The whole meaning behind ‘The Garage’ is, ‘Dreams begin in the garage.’ Meaning, pretty much, Amazon started in the garage.”

And Nike, he adds.

Lernard’s original idea for The Genre Memphis hasn’t changed. “The front is a musical passport. You sit down in The Genre and it takes you out of the house. You’re not in Memphis. It’s something totally different.”

Album covers and records hang on the wall. The main wall, which bears a neon “G,” features vinyl record covers that have been laminated and nailed to two-by-fours close to the hole in the record so they can still be played.

An “out-of-town vibe” is what he’s going for, Lernard says. “Your drink gets you in your zone. And you have some good food. We have a DJ that pretty much plays some of everything from blues to Michael Jackson to current hip-hop to Top 40. He controls where you go.”

Lernard and his brother are both DJs. They call themselves “DJ LNB” meaning “Lernard” and “Bernard.” Lernard also was a DJ on KXHT Hot 107.1.

DJing is where the name “The Genre” came from. “There are different types of DJs,” Lernard says. “There are wedding and club DJs. There are DJs who specialize in Delta blues or other types of music. We were always considered able to play all types of music. So, it was called ‘genre DJs.’”

Lernard also features a genre-type food menu. “When we first opened it was catfish, wings, and sliders.”

They now have 30 items on the menu, including their most popular items: catfish and lamb. “My mom’s side is from Albany, Georgia,” Lernard says. “We used to go down there and insist they do catfish for us. I started cooking my granddad’s recipe and brought it down here and made it to what it is. It’s pretty much their style, but we also add this special sauce, which is ‘201 Sauce.’ It’s kind of a sweet heat sauce.”

In addition to catering, he and his brother also own a food truck, where they offer their complete menu.

Lernard, who comes up with the menu items, says he makes something once, tries it, and if he likes it, he trains the kitchen staff how to make it.

But Lernard is usually in the front of the house. He refers to his customers as his “celebrities,” Lernard says. “Because we all are special in our own way.

“You contribute to us. You patronize us. Keep us going. You are our celebrities.”

The Genre’s Theme Hits the Right Note

Music is in the air — and on the walls — at The Genre restaurant.

“If you close your eyes, it’s pretty much like a musical passport,” says chef/owner Lernard Chambers, 29.

Recorded music is played. Album covers and records hang on walls. “Pretty much when you walk in you see music,” Chambers says. “All types of records. Any artist, any genre. From Anita Baker to Michael Jackson to the Beatles.”

The main wall is “a bunch of vinyl record covers. We laminated them and put them up.” The records were nailed to two-by-fours, but close to the hole in the album. “I didn’t want it to be where you could never play them again. If anyone wanted that record, they could ask for it and take it off the wall and still play it.”

That happened, he says. “We had one person, they said they’d been looking for that record for the longest. So they bought it off the wall.”

Chambers and his identical twin brother, Bernard, are DJs — DJ LNB. But the records didn’t come from their collection. They bought a lot of them off eBay, and friends donated others.

A Bob Marley record follows a Beatles record and a Tupac Shakur record follows Marley. “If you follow it, it’s like a timeline of music.”

The restaurant also features live music. “We have had several local artists come through: Courtney Little, Izzy Moore, Devin Crutcher. And then we even had Charles Pender, saxophone player, come and do a saxophone set.”

The Genre’s cuisine, which includes catfish, hot wings, and chicken tenders, has musically inspired names. “One we have is the Reggae Jerk Chicken. We call our lemon pepper [chicken] the Pop Rock. And then one will be the vegan burger, The Badu, after Erykah Badu. ’Cause Erykah is vegan.”

A native Memphian, Chambers got into cooking growing up. “My mom was the ‘in the kitchen cook’ and my dad was ‘the barbecue cook.’ Anything on the grill.”

Lernard was captivated with cooking. “I would see mom’s little tricks on how to make a simple fried chicken wing even better than just flouring it and frying it. She’d take extra steps to make it taste totally different. I’d pay attention to those techniques.”

Everything he did was geared toward one day opening a restaurant. Lernard and Bernard began working at a Piccadilly Cafeteria when they were in high school. They went on to work at other restaurants. “Just build up knowledge of how a kitchen is supposed to flow. How fast to get food out. How to deal with different customers.”

Lernard majored in business management at Southwest Tennessee Community College. The Chambers brothers mowed yards to raise money.

“We got into the party industry. We took pictures and threw parties. The deejaying started blowing up. We started a sound rental company. We provided sound for any DJ you can think of in Memphis.

“The money kind of got there, and we saw a location and went with it. I had the idea all along, and I was just waiting for the right time and place.”

Bernard, a sheriff with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, originally told Lernard about the location, which is across the street from the Shelby County Jail at 201 Poplar. “It’s a great security thing. A lot of women feel safe ’cause it’s close to the jail.” And, he says, “A lot of cops come around that area.”

Lernard describes The Genre as “a small urban bistro … a small eatery, with a hookah, gourmet food, and good customer service.

“A modern upscale experience is the way I put it,” he adds. But he wants customers to “also feel comfortable. Where you can come dressed as you are.

“I always wanted it to be kind of like a nightlife atmosphere, but it’s also a place where you can come chill, relax. Low light, music.”

The Genre is at 200 Poplar Avenue, Suite 105; (901) 410-8169.