Fifi Berry

1943 - 2022

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Fifi Berry, whose eponymous South Toledo restaurant defined sophisticated dining for more than a generation, died Thursday in the Franciscan Care Center, Sylvania Township. She was 79.

She suffered a stroke Oct. 15, said her niece Sherie Simons. Ms. Berry had dementia and lived at the care center for more than three years.

Fifi's Reprise went dark in November, 2012. It was the third edition of Ms. Berry's restaurant off Airport Highway and Bernath Parkway. She had been a constant presence from its opening in 1980 as Fifi's Tidbits and Spirits.

Long before diners arrived, Ms. Berry was there.

"She would say she would go home and turn herself into Fifi," said Lucy Anton, a close friend since the 1960s. "She was very glamorous and had excellent taste in attire. Fifi was like a pied piper with people. She was very funny and charming and worldly, but kind and generous and a good overseer in the restaurant."

Michael Marsh, who became a regular and a friend in 1998, said: "She would always dress to the nines, and her hair was fixed to a T. She was a natural-born entertainer and hostess."

Fifi's "was an extension of her home, and she made it feel safe," said Mr. Marsh, a former president and chief executive of the Toledo Fair Housing Center. "She was an extrovert and liked to interact with all kinds of different people."

By 2005, what was then-Fifi's Restaurant and Lounge became the only Toledo restaurant to have three stars from the prestigious Mobil Travel Guide for 15 years in a row.

Also in 2005, she received the Ohio Restaurant Association's Lifetime Service Award, which was presented by retired Blade food editor Mary Alice Powell. Ms. Berry was a former president of the Northwest Ohio Restaurant Association.

"Posh appointments. Romance. Creative cuisine. Fresh, crisp white linens. A long-stemmed rose as a logo," Miss Powell began her Nov. 18, 1983, "Dining Out" column. "Fifi's makes these, and other, statements that put it in a class by itself, at least in Toledo."

Fifi's was known for boeuf au fromage and Dover sole amandine; for salads and dishes and desserts prepared tableside; for such pianists as John Mast and Fred Kopp with a wide repertoire under their fingers and in tune with regulars' favorite melodies.

Another distinction that set Fifi's apart was the decor, a Blade review said in 1997, "easily the most lavishly elegant in these parts, but comfortably so, a world apart from the hurly-burly of the working day."

But to start, years before U.S. restaurateurs or diners spoke of "small plates," Ms. Berry, in 1980, thought of her place as an alternative.

"She had no intention of having full dining service," Mrs. Anton said. "The kitchen was minuscule when she first opened."

Ms. Berry soon learned, Miss Powell wrote in 1983, "that she was in the wrong town for such a trendy idea. Toledoans expect to be able to order a full dinner."

An expanded dining space and an array of offerings followed.

"The success of her restaurant was like you were a guest in her home. It was important that every detail be covered," Mrs. Anton said.

That included a requirement in early years that men wear a tie and jacket, a dress code that eased as the world changed. Also, in the early days, the customer base included businessmen with expense accounts.

"You could have a three-hour dinner easily at Fifi's," Mrs. Anton said. Then over the years, major corporations cut staff. Independent and locally owned restaurants gave way to chains.

And customers reserved fine-dining experiences for special occasions.

"It's hard to sustain a restaurant like that," Mrs. Anton said.

Ms. Berry closed and sold the restaurant in 2007. When the buyer faced business problems, she reopened as Fifi's Reprise.

Customers became close to her daughter, Kelley, who was a regular presence at the restaurant. Ms. Berry supported the Ability Center and causes in support of those with developmental disabilities.

"Fifi did such a good job introducing people to Kelley and the special needs community," Mr. Marsh said. "We loved Special K. She remembered everybody's name."

Ms. Berry was born as Andrae Brown on Sept. 13, 1943, to Dorothy and Paul Brown, the youngest of their four daughters. She was especially close to her maternal grandmother, Emma Parr, who died in 2005 at age 105.

She was a graduate of Scott High School. She was in New York City for a time afterward and worked in entertainment. She shared stories with friends and family, but did not discuss it otherwise.

"She wanted to focus on her life as Fifi and the restaurant," Mrs. Anton said.

She was given the name Fifi when she was a dancer in New York, she told Miss Powell in 1980.

"A friend said I just looked like a Fifi, and the name stuck," Ms. Berry said then.

She idolized a great aunt, Willie Mae Allen, whose culinary skill was prized.

"She wanted to be like Aunt Willie," said Ms. Simons, whose mother was Ms. Berry's late sister Sondra Parr Parkman.

Surviving are her daughter, Kelley Brown, and sister, Raquel Haynes.

Family and friends will gather from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday at Newcomer Funeral Home Southwest Chapel on Heatherdowns Boulevard, where a memorial service will begin at 6 p.m.

Tributes are suggested to the Ability Center, Hospice of Northwest Ohio, or Toledo Animal Rescue.