The family of legendary chef and civil rights leader Leah Chase will host “An Evening Remembering and Celebrating Leah’s Contributions” at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6, at the late icon’s famed eatery on Orleans Avenue.
The event—a benefit for the Edgar “Dooky” Jr. & Leah Chase Family Foundation—will take place on what would have been Chase’s 97th birthday.
In 2013, Chase—along with her husband, the late Edgar “Dooky” Chase, Jr.—founded the charitable foundation to support various organizations and the key causes long-championed by the couple, including civil rights, culinary achievement, education and fine arts.
Chase was a longtime patron of the arts—much of it displayed over the years on the walls of Dooky Chase’s Restaurant; and the event will feature a special art exhibit of portraits in Chase’s likeness sponsored by local art collector Richard Colton, Jr., and paintings by groundbreaking artist and visual journalist Gustave Blache III, who paintings of Chase were first exhibited and Le Museé de f.p.c. in 2010 and again the New Orleans Museum of Art to mark Chase’s birthday in 2012.
The family’s evening of remembrance will also feature some of Chase’s signature dishes, including the Mayor’s Duck Dinner and the Lenten favorite, Holy Thursday gumbo.
Chase, who died in June 2019, has been the recipient of numerous honors during her career as a culinarian and civil rights activist, including a bevy of honorary degrees; recognition by the NAACP, National Conference of Christians and Jews and the National Council of Negro Women.
Details about the benefit are available here.
