Series airs April 29
Edited by Tribune staff
New Orleans public television station WYES celebrates Leah Chase in a new 26-part national cooking series featuring members of the legendary chef’s family.
The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah’s Legacy series shares dishes prepared by younger generations of the Chase family who have led the restaurant since Leah’s death in 2019. In segments shot on location in Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, viewers will meet 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 Marie Haydel, the restaurant’s beverage manager who has updated drink recipes from the restaurant’s earlier days. Granddaughter Chase Kamata narrates the series, which aires at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 29 on WYES-TV.
The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah’s Legacy premieres will also stream on wyes.org/live and on the free WYES and PBS Apps. Episodes will premiere each Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and will repeat on Sundays at 11:30 a.m. Viewers outside of the WYES broadcast area should contact their local public television station for airdates and times.
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 America Leaders’ Summit.
On another episode, the restaurant’s significant place in the history of the Civil Rights Movement is commemorated 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 1960s.
The series is distributed nationally by American Public Television (APT).