The Chef
Chef John Bragg (john.j.bragg [at] gmail [dot] com) was born and raised on an Arlington, Tennessee farm, spending his mornings feeding cattle and afternoons tending the family garden as well as working in the fields during his high school summers. Thus, he learned the value and rewards of hard work, and became ingrained with a deep respect for the country’s agricultural heritage and an abiding appreciation of its food sources.
Chef Bragg graduated from Christian Brothers High School in Memphis in 1991, and later graduated from Christian Brothers University in 2000 with a degree in Accounting. Although his accounting skills and experience have held him in good stead in his own business projects (Circa byJohn Bragg being his third), Chef Bragg has always pursued a full-time culinary career, which began in 1991 when he started at Memphis’ La Tourelle, introduced to his craft by Chef Erling Jensen.
During those early years, Chef Bragg worked himself up to Sous Chef at Maxwell’s; and also specialized in pastry cooking, holding the position of Pastry Chef at Erling Jensen The Restaurant and City Bread Co.
In 1994 Chef Bragg traveled to France where he graduated with honors from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. He gained further experience and influences while working in France’s Basque Country, in the fishing village and resort of Chez Dominique close to the Spanish border. He also learned to apply the discipline of his French training and techniques while working for the Silversea Cruise Line, absorbing additional culinary influences (particularly South American, Italian and Asian) in the process.
By the age of 30 Chef Bragg felt ready for his own restaurant, and so he purchased and re-invented La Montagne as a French style bistro, garnering impressive reviews and a significant, loyal following. Seeking a larger scaled venue and even more upscale clientele, Chef opened River Oaks in East Memphis to further critical acclaim; but this venture partnership dissolved in 2006.
Circa by John Bragg is actually Chef’s first from-the-ground-up concept reflecting 100% his own experiences and sensibilities, both culinary and intellectual. Some of his thoughts: Cooking is a craft, but in the finest restaurants it becomes an art. The basic mechanics of chopping, peeling, grilling and roasting are building blocks of any dish, but when executed and finished with a sense of style and balance and then delivered with the drama of performance art, these mechanics suddenly turn into something larger – showmanship, stagecraft, sculpture, magic, aesthetics, and even personal philosophy.
Circa means “about,” as in from “about the time of the early 1900s.” When I began to formulate this restaurant I thought about the things I love most – food, of course, and wine, art, music, family, celebration, as well as history and tradition. Hence, Circa by John Bragg is a restaurant designed to recapture the feel and sensations that early 1900s French restaurants must have projected.
Particularly restaurants like Bofinger or Brasserie Lipp in Paris, which were by turns taverns, wine bars, night clubs, everyday restaurants, and also food lovers’ refuges. This was the time of Belle Epoch and Art Nouveau; when cuisine bourgeois was born, and when haute cuisine flourished. In the restaurants from a hundred years ago, you would find promise in the air and prosperity at the tables; and all this reflected in the elaborate mosaic tiles, domed gilt ceilings, mirrors, ornate beer fountains, and dramatic porcelain reliefs.
We are, of course, not in France of yesterday, nor in Kansas; but if all goes according to plan, Circa by John Bragg will recall the sensation everyone feels when first walking into an exciting restaurant, and tasting a memorably executed dish, a refreshingly unique cocktail, or an exceptional, never-before-seen-or-tasted wine.
Our canvas is 21st century America, and our clientele will have the world wary sophistication of 21st century Americans. Our job here in Memphis will be to strike a chord that is in many ways imaginary, even mythical. Our interior design and “wall of wine” – done by a much lauded architectural firm (3SIX0) from Providence, Rhode Island known for their dramatic, vanguard approach – reinforces this appeal. But it wouldn’t work if that longing wasn’t there in the first place – that enduring desire for culinary experiences every bit as exciting as the “first time.” Walking into a restaurant and being both wowed yet feeling instantly comfortable. “Home” at last. That’s what Circa by John Bragg is all about!
