Leah Chase (1923- ) also known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine, is a New Orleans chef, author and television personality who has promoted African American art and Creole cooking. Her restaurant, Dooky Chase, was a gathering place for the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s, as well as a gallery for an extensive African American Art collection.

Leah Chase was born on January 6, 1923 to Creole parents in Madisonville, Louisiana. She moved to New Orleans to the home of relatives at the age of 14 to attend St. Mary's Academy. After high school, she worked in the French Quarter at the Colonial Restaurant. In 1945, she married musician Edgar "Dooky" Chase II. His parents owned the Dooky Chase Restaurant. She began to work in the restaurant in the 1950s and eventually converted the menu to reflect her own family's Creole recipes. She also developed an interest in African American art and began to display dozens of paintings by local African American artists.

During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 4 feet of water flooded the restaurant and the roof over the takeout kitchen collapsed. However, Chase's grandson put the restaurant's African-American art collection into storage.

Leah Chase has a cooking show devoted to Creole cooking and is the author of several cookbooks.

Cookbooks by Leah Chase

• The Dooky Chase Cookbook (1990) ISBN 088289661X
• And I Still Cook (2003) ISBN 156554823X
• Down Home Healthy : Family Recipes of Black American Chefs (1994) ISBN 0160451663

See also

• Louisiana Creole cuisine
• Cajun cuisine

See also

• Leah Chase New Orleans Online
• Lifetime Achievement Award - Leah Chase Southern Foodways Alliance (2000)
• Allen, Carol Listen, I Say This (biography of Leah Chase) (2002)ISBN 1589800486
• Leah Chase of Dooky Chase Restaurant St. Mary's Academy Newsletter
• Can New Orleans Get Cooking Again? Los Angeles Daily News (November 8, 2005)

African American art | Louisiana cuisine