NEW ORLEANS (press release) – WYES will celebrate Leah Chase, “The Queen of Creole Cuisine,” in a new cooking series featuring the legendary chef’s family.
THE DOOKY CHASE KITCHEN: LEAH’S LEGACY series began shooting this summer on location in the Dooky Chase kitchen with Leah’s grandson, Edgar “Dook” Chase IV, who now oversees the restaurant’s kitchen; her niece Cleo Robinson, who joined Leah in the kitchen in 1980; and the restaurant’s newest chef, Leah’s great-granddaughter Zoe Chase. Paired with some of the menus are specialty cocktails crafted by Leah’s granddaughter Eve Haydel, who has updated drink recipes from the restaurant’s earlier days.
Each program in the 26-part cooking series will explore a different chapter of the restaurant’s history. On an episode about distinguished guests, the Chase chefs will share a recipe for Grits and Quail that Leah served at the restaurant in 2008 to President George W. Bush during a North American Leaders’ Summit. On another episode the restaurant’s significant place in the history of the Civil Rights Movement will be celebrated with preparation of Creole Gumbo, a dish Leah served to Martin Luther King Jr. and other social activists when they held strategy sessions in the restaurant’s upstairs dining room in the 1960’s.
THE DOOKY CHASE KITCHEN: LEAH’S LEGACY will be ready for national release in Spring 2023.
Terri Landry is the writer and producer of the new series. She has led 16 national public television cooking series for WYES-TV, including five featuring Chef Paul Prudhomme and four with Chef Kevin Belton. We can’t wait to see what Terri and her team have in store for the new series.
THE DOOKY CHASE KITCHEN: LEAH’S LEGACY is sponsored by: The Melvin S. Cohen Foundation, Inc.
More details will be available soon at wyes.org.
