Vital Names: Chef Leah Chase, the "Queen of Creole Cuisine," Nourished Civil Rights Leaders (and More)
Welcome to “Vital Names,” a series of articles spotlighting influential Black chefs whose names are not as widely known as they should be, and whose marks on the culinary world have been overlooked, misattributed or appropriated. The vital name in part four of the series is Chef Leah Chase, a restaurant-owner, cookbook author and civil rights advocate from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Chef Leah Chase's legacy is deeply woven into the fabric of New Orleans and the U.S. as a whole. Known to many as the "Queen of Creole Cuisine," Chase's influence and impact on culinary arts in and beyond the American south cannot be overstated.
Her story, however, comprises more than extraordinary culinary contributions. At , her restaurant on Orleans Street in the heart of NOLA's historic Treme neighborhood, Civil Rights activists met and made plans; African American art was displayed and admired; and celebrities, community leaders and U.S. presidents including George W. Bush and Barack Obama savored Creole flavors.
Her restaurant was so revered — and Chase herself was so beloved — that she became a literal Disney Princess.
"When you do a lot of work in your community, you become known, so somebody probably referred [Disney] to me, and I'm so happy about that," . "Now everybody wants to be Tiana. I think it's fantastic."
Chase is widely credited as the inspiration for Princess Tiana, the first ever Black Disney princess and the heroine of the 2009 movie "The Princess and the Frog." Tiana, a chef who was born and raised in New Orleans (like Chase), dreams throughout the movie of opening her own restaurant. Spoiler alert: Her dream comes true.
Noting the film's significance for Black chefs, Chase said: "When I came up, being a cook was nothing. It's just lately that we have chefs coming into their own."
"Back then," she added, "people would look at you, especially if you were a Black woman, and say: 'Oh, you just a cook. That's it.' But now, being a chef is it."
For Chase, being a chef was always "it" — even from a young age.
Louisiana Born and Raised
Leah Chase was born in New Orleans in 1923, but grew up in the neighboring town of Madisonville, Louisiana (now part of the New Orleans metropolitan area). After sixth grade, Chase returned to New Orleans proper to live with her aunt and attend school, as there were no high schools open to Black Americans nearby.
brought her much joy. Professionally, her love of food and hospitality was sparked and nurtured by a job working as a server at a buzzy restaurant in the French Quarter. Personally, she found love with musician Edgar "Dooky" Chase; in 1946, the pair married and started a family.
Turning Dooky Chase's Into A Dining Destination
Dooky's family owned a restaurant described on its website as "family po’boy and lottery shop" turned "favorite local gathering place." It was Chef Leah who, in the French Quarter, encouraged them to elevate the business.
In time, Dooky Chase's became the only fine dining restaurant that served Black patrons. (, one of which decreed that Black and white people could not share the same spaces, were enforced across the United States until 1968.)
At Dooky Chase's, not only did Black and white people dine together, they planned the future of America together.
A Haven for Civil Rights Activists and Celebrities
Civil Rights Movement activists of all races met to discuss strategy at the restaurant. According to the Dooky Chase website, it was one of the only "safe" places to meet in town, specifically because "it would have caused a public uproar if local law enforcement had interrupted the meetings."
Dooky Chase's proudly hosted Thurgood Marshall, Reverend A.L. Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., the NAACP, Freedom Riders, Black voter registration campaign organizers, and more over the years. Chase nourished them all.
"We changed the course of the world over a bowl of gumbo," Chase said.
And Dooky Chase's relevance continues. Considered a cultural landmark by many — and designated an historic landmark by the United States Civil Rights Trail in 2021 — it has hosted a number of celebrity guests over the years, including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Jesse Jackson, Duke Ellington and Ray Charles. The latter even .
An oft-repeated anecdote shows Chase's commitment to honoring authentic Creole cuisine: In 2008, she stopped then presidential candidate Barack Obama from adding hot sauce to a bowl of her gumbo.
"Mr. Obama, you don't put hot sauce in my gumbo, you don't do that! So I had to reprimand him,” she told.
Chef Leah Chase's Impact
Chase won numerous awards for her cooking and her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. Among the former is a 2016 James Beard Foundation Award for Lifetime Achievement. Additionally, her cookbooks preserved Creole recipes for generations; her portrait hangs in the Smithsonian Institution; and her chef's jacket is displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Chef Leah made regular appearances at Dooky Chase's, welcoming guests in its dining room and cooking in its kitchen, until her death in June of 2019. She was 96 years old.
"I love what I do," . "If I wouldn't come in this kitchen every day, I think I would be miserable. My children say, 'Why don't you stay home?' Nope! I don't want to stay home. I want to do what I do."
Dooky Chases's remains open and owned by members of the Chase family, and it continues to serve the Chef Leah gumbo recipe (no hot sauce needed) that nourished 70 years of changemakers.
Revisit part one (Edna Lewis), part two (Robert W. Lee), and part three (James Hemings) in the Vital Names series.
