New Orleans chef and civil rights icon Leah Chase, who created the city's first white-tablecloth restaurant for black patrons, ignored city segregation laws and introduced countless tourists to Southern Louisiana Creole cooking, died Saturday at age 96.
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans chef and civil rights icon Leah Chase, who created the city's first white-tablecloth restaurant for black patrons, broke the city's segregation laws by seating white and black customers and introduced countless tourists to Southern Louisiana Creole cooking, died Saturday. She was 96.
Chase's determination propelled her from a small-town Louisiana upbringing to a celebrated chef who authored cookbooks, appeared on cooking shows and fed civil rights greats such as Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King Jr. Well into her 90s, Chase could be found daily at the restaurant, using a walker while greeting customers and supervising the kitchen. The power of food to transform a day and the desire to better her city drove her.
When she married Dooky Chase in 1946, his family restaurant had been open for five years, largely under the guidance of his mother. But Leah Chase wanted to make it a fine dining experience for black patrons along the lines of what she'd seen in the Quarter. Gradually, she introduced silverware on the table, tablecloths and Creole dishes.
Chase would also send food to civil rights leaders when they were in jail, sniffing her nose at the idea of them eating prison food. Chase was already into her 80s, but there was little question regarding the restaurant's fate. She and her husband evacuated to Birmingham, but returned and lived in a FEMA trailer next to the restaurant for months while they rebuilt. Her husband died in 2016 , at which point the couple had been married for seven decades.
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