Leah Chase: The Queen of Creole Cuisine

Bill to become one of the most awarded chefs in the country and, along the way, he cooked for precedents and entertainment personalities and helped shape the political and civil rights movement in New Orleans tonight at 7:00 on LP. Be a careful mix of flavors. and roast made in a Louisiana kitchen a century ago still fills cups today. The young man who started it all passed the recipe and the tradition of sharing it with those around him from generation to generation. It's a legacy that lives on in flavor and family tonight at 8:00:30 on LPB we would like to recognize the distinguished members of LTV's Louisiana Legends Society.

These are our most generous members who support LTV's ongoing mission to preserve public broadcasting in our local communities. We thank you for your continued support of Louisiana Public Broadcasting to learn more about how to convert. a member of the Louisiana Legends Society, please contact LPB Friends at the number on the screen you are viewing. LPV funding for Leah Chase, the

queen

of Creole

cuisine

, is made possible by the Whitney Institute, the Rhodes Family Businesses, Dillard University's Ray Charles Program in African American Material Culture, the Nellie Marie Party Committee Liberty Bank Company Mack Eleni Entergy Corporation Richard and Linda Friedman New Orleans City Council Community Support Grant from Harrah Talbot Realty Group New Orleans Auction Susan and Fayez Seraphim Foundation Patrick F Taylor International House Metro Service Group Richard's Disposal Friends of Leah Chase, the Chef Susan Spicer and Edie Marshall, in a city where it is not difficult to find good food and great hospitality, there are places that manage to stand out from the crowd of excellence.

Tookie Chases is one of those places mainly because of the feisty chef that has been making it all happen here for the last 70 years Leah Chase, you will still find her in the kitchen cooking gumbo making room telling everyone what to make the gift for Leah Chase Little to the world is every person who thinks like white Asian. It doesn't matter when you think you can't do it, all you have to do is look at her life story and say: you know what she can do, I can do it and she is happy to tell you that Leah's gift to all of us is the art hanging in the Dooky Chase restaurant art by African American artist from Nashville international and locally famous people go there for Leah's food I mean it's cool and that's why they go there I met you go there announce the date when my daughter will be fantastic and everyone always eggs vostok when you look at the menu you don't know what you can offer no city in America has anyone comparable to her choice C she is unique you are unique she belongs to us to the traditions and the spirit of the place she personifies the depths of meaning and importance I'm Michelle Miller outside Dooky Chase restaurant, where the

queen

of Creole

cuisine

creates dishes for her customers that give them a little bit of her soul.

Her story actually begins north of New Orleans, across Lake Pontchartrain in the small town of Madisonville Louisiana born on January 6, 1923, the first official day of the year's Mardi Gras season. I come from a very family oriented family and we had many children, my mother had raised 11 of us, nine girls, two boys and somehow they all fit in this cottage in the countryside one of her sisters Sylvia still lives there his parents Charles and Hortensia Lange were strong Catholics they believed in God and worked hard they grew vegetables and fruit trees they raised pigs chickens and turkeys and they had 20 an acre of strawberry field to help with the family income so you had to walk three or four miles to pick those strawberries and after bending your back to pick them all day you had to walk back and when you came back you might add a double zipper that way. so you could walk, his father worked in the nearby shipyards and in the fields, his job at the WPA paid 50 cents a day, so everyone had to pitch in if everyone was going to eat.

I remember one time my mother ate a couple of turkeys, do you remember the Lord of hers? yes, I remember that she was proud of her turkeys and another thing that she was proud of her guinea fowl, which was the worst thing that was ever put in the garden, you will know, as you know, I denied it, but they were good, it's easy , they catch quail in the strawberry fields that their mother would turn into a sweet and savory meal of quail grits and plum sauce. The dinner Leah would one day serve to a president of the United States.

I think part of what the world is missing is the dinner table on a grand As far as we're concerned, sparse food turned into masterpieces in our cast iron pot. It was at that table where we said thank you like Lea's table said thank you. It was at that table that no matter how humble the food was served. the best planet it ever had they taught us sit with the tablecloth I remember the tablecloth Oh, or during the week we had an oil call but on Sunday you had an Aberhart starched and ironed, of course, it could have been made with flour sacks that you washed, bleached, starched and embroidered, but you had a nice tablecloth on Sundays after church, they stay in town to watch the boats arrive, the fishing boats are better, but the ferries are full of people, some of them visitors from New Orleans, there were only whites at the top. covers, everyone else had to stay below, no one in his family ever said anything, that's how it was, especially his father, especially he never spoke, he was never going to make waves, never, no he, I will never forget that he punished me once because the Miss Shadley you had to register your newborn babies with her so I know I'm going to be such a model and so big that I'm going to fill out the papers so I said and I'm not going to be colored I'm not going to be black I'm going to put , oh, my dad said no, my dad gave me a good beating, take that out of there and put color on it.

See, he was so past that he wasn't. Can I be in all of them, not him, when Leah was ready for high school? At the age of 13 there were no nearby high schools for African-American children, so her parents put her on the lower deck of the ferry to New Orleans to live with an aunt whom she would attend St. Mary's Academy in the French Quarter one day. Catholic school run by an order of crazy blacks whose parents managed to raise his tuition to ten dollars a month. In those days it was bad for her to be poor;

For me it was worse than segregation because it wasn't. I don't like poor people nowadays, they give things to people and they tried in those days you were poor and that's it, you wouldn't even realize she graduated in three years and came home to work in a local boarding school when he was 18 years old. My father let her return to New Orleans, where she was expected to go to work in a sewing factory like her mother, her mother, and some of her sisters, instead of working in the factories in rise. I went to work in the French Quarter as a waitress now that was a big no-no, but I couldn't see myself sitting around, shooting pants pockets all day or sewing, doing whatever because that's what influences all the piecework, you make the pants pocket, you place the pants pocket, you make flaps, you put bells or whatever and I didn't do that so my mind was always somewhere else so she found a job at the colonial restaurant there are no charters in the French Quarter it was their first time inside a restaurant I worked and I asked the chef all kinds of things and they would get mad at me the kid chefs get mad Richard when you, but in their business, but anyway that's what I did and I worked there until the woman opened the coffee maker, then I helped her open the coffee pod, our first meal in New Orleans and a commercial.

The restaurant was Wiener jung-hwa and she was very excited because a pot of wiener jambalaya was sold out in about five minutes and the woman who owned the restaurant said you would do that again, she learned she practiced and even got some other jobs to make money, She marked the horse racing board for a local bookie and even booked amateur boxers at the Coliseum stadium, but it was the restaurant business that called to her. I worked in quarters and I will never forget that she used to stop by my restaurant all the time. I love the chairs.

It didn't bother me that I couldn't go to that restaurant. It's just those chairs that fascinated me. I always loved this restaurant so much after working in the French Quarter. I said: I want this one. I would like one like this. If I ever get somewhere I'd like a restaurant Edgard Dooky Chase Junior was playing in a band his own band the young man had been on tour since he was 16 playing trumpet and leading the band playing in New Orleans one night in 1946 he saw Leah in the audience, my band was playing at a carnival dance after the union hall in New Orleans and I saw a beautiful lady in the audience and I told one of my men in the band to come take over the show. band for me.

I was going to dance with that cute guy and I said well, I was handsome, he had a nice shape, so he wanted to meet me, so I met him and that was a lot of fun. Another thing my uncle used to say: musicians were lazy people. down-to-earth musicians musicians musicians were not seen as great people I prefer athletes and I love people with physical and emotional strength they always fascinated me even though they are not their type they got along right away when I met him he was 122 years old and you would think he was eighteen years, so it all started from there, you know, we went everywhere together, it was a quick romance, within three months they were married and within a few years they had a growing family, they would have four children, three. girls and a boy, it just so happened that Ducky's parents owned a small tavern, a bar actually in the other half of its double in the historic Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, serving drinks and an occasional sandwich, his mother Emily primarily ran the Edgar Dickey place.

Senior like that, he was a hit, he dressed up with his diamond ring, his diamond pin, his diamond watch and he just looked good and she liked to watch him look good, so it worked out well as soon as the kids got a little older . Leah volunteered. to help in the restaurant and she had some ideas of her own to change the place starting with the menu so I said no we have to change this but one thing is we are going to change this menu so I will put Lobster Thermidor on the menu. since those don't know anything but Lobster Thermidor, let's put a shrimp cocktail in it, they thought it was something to drink, my friends, right?

We didn't go to restaurants, only people like guys who worked in their new state, we couldn't . I didn't go in there to see what happened, so everyone was like, Oh, she's going to ruin your business, she's just going to put you out of business, if that's the case, I had to back off now, let me do what I know, let me do what I see. . they make it and then I start with the chicken breast, my parents stuffed the chicken with oyster dressing, they made Greek ads, they made beef punny, so I started putting that in, can it work?, so it became their version Creole cuisine, a mix of Spanish and French. and African, she also wanted to make it a really nice restaurant with tablecloths and chairs that she had seen and loved in neighborhood restaurants, but my mother-in-law was what attracted her the most, not so much the change in the menu. the decoration she couldn't see with me in the decoration she liked pink and blue.

I hate to think, but I thought the pink and blue looked like a crib or something, but she liked the pink and blue, so I'll switch. In this dining room we put red here, I put red walls, it went red and gold, brighter colors for an expanded space, the whole double was now a restaurant and she finally got those chairs like the ones in the French Quarter restaurants, so that It was the first thing I wanted to find me a chair like that, so it took me a little while, but my mother-in-law, because she wanted her treatment, put chairs with plastic covers.

No, I want this chair, and I've had these chairs since 1957 and I'm very proud of them, I was shaping their dream and I wanted to share it, so when I look at Leah's gift to the world, it's that message that it doesn't matter where you come from, no matter the poverty you experience in your life, the social aspect that was. I never showed you that the ability to even walk into a restaurant wasn't for you, but still, getting all that out of the way, all that fog to clear the room and say, you know what, here I am and it's all up to me, up to no one. . she was going to give me anything Dooky Chase's was becoming the place to go, the only place at first she had taken a tavern and turned it into a tablecloth dining experience black people had nowhere else to go, no restaurants real quality and really outstanding aesthetics, so Leah poured everything she had into the restaurant her husband Dukie took care of the money she took care of everything else she had a natural appearance he was always behind the bar at the cash register but she was everywhere because when you went there she just didn't cook, she cooked, but then she came out and you know if you wanted her to be a part of this, she would.would do, but I wanted you to know that you were welcome and of course it was the only place black celebrities could eat.

I don't know if you were talking about King Cole, talking about Duke Ellington and serving anyone who was anything in the music world, came to Duke when they reached a new audience, a lot of those famous faces adorn the walls and their memory, any whatever you cook Brings back memories of everyone who came to my restaurant Lena Horne who liked her fried chicken Sarah Bone who liked her stuffed crabs then Quincy Jones and all those people who love gumbo Michael Jackson with his sweet potato pies you think of them every time you cook I never lost my heart it was when the charcoal arrived he asked for his egg so Dukey called me very excited he was still at home he said the cold is here and he wants fermented eggs fermented eggs do you know what is that?

I told him no, but me. I'm coming there now and you had to know how the Nats people pulled their nose and wanted a four minute egg, but it hasn't been such famous people that really helped make this what it is, it's those that spent time here and created memories. hereSome of the brothers who didn't have more than one girlfriend couldn't go anywhere else, so they tried to find the worst place they could go and tried to hide the number one formula, lady with big chains of cookies, so I know that incidents like that are You were thinking if it was just a night out or a graduation date, anniversary, any special or regular dinner, the reputation of Dooky Chase's was spreading beyond its walls, beyond the neighborhood, beyond the city , Rachad made him have these famous lyrics about, you know, you're going to face it.

I

chase

d around trying to get something to eat, the waitress looked at me and said where do you appear, look, so, it was a blues honk or early morning, which were very, very popular, not just in New Orleans all over the country, like that I have to mention that he played Duke's, you know, I just informed people about this. Hello everyone and welcome everyone. I'm Martin McConnell. I am a long-time supporter and very good friend of LPP. I promise you and you're watching Leah

chase

the queen of Creole cuisine. Leah's lifelong friend. Chef John Folse will join us here in the studio in a moment, but first we're going to take this brief intermission to ask you, our viewers, to show us that you value shows like this by simply pledging financial support. call eight eight eight seven six nine 5,000 which is a toll-free call or you can donate online at LPB dot o-r-g which is a secure server now you can choose to make a one-time donation or you may prefer to become a sustaining member with a monthly donation donation in a amount you decide well we have special thank you gifts curated for your engagement no matter what you decide to do but during this show special thank you gifts designed just for you now LP beat clay forea executive producer is here in the studio and he has a lot more details about special thank you gifts, don't you think?

Yes, Martin, I'm sure we have several thank you gifts and we have some people who are live right here in the studio. You are ready to make your promise if you call us at 888 seven six nine 5000 or go online to LPB dot o-r-g and make a promise. We have some wonderful gifts for you in addition to the great programming you're watching. here tonight we are going to review them, they show you we are going to see 240 dollars and we can take Visa MasterCard American Express and Discover or of course the special program that they will tell you about you are going to receive the Creole cuisine combo that's right, it is a combo that we love around here will include Leah Chase's cookbook and I Still Cook.

Has Dooky Chase's cookbook. Has John Folse's cookbook. Can you dig it more a DVD of the show you're watching here tonight and here you have friends? LPB Cooking Glove and a fantastic cup of LPB gumbo for one hundred and twenty dollars or just ten dollars a month, you will receive the Leah Chase and I Still Cook Cookbook and the Dooky Chase Cookbook, which are two cookbooks and great cooking shows here on LP. seventy two dollars, just six dollars a month through your membership you will receive a DVD of the show that you will see here tonight and you will also receive, yes, that cup of LPB gumbo.

We have many ways to contribute. ways for you to help us bring this great programming into your home day after day for you and your family we want you to be part of this program and part of this network and we can do it with you with those promises supporting you again you can use Visa MasterCard American Express or Discover and of course there's our great sustaining membership, an easy way to receive some of those funds monthly so we can create more great programming for Louisianans by Louisianans about Louisiana along with some great programs like masterpieces and NOAA and many others now we are going to review the Martin, it has a very special guest.

Martin, who you have there, I have a very special guest. I have a Louisiana legend in my own right, a good friend of mine. good friend from Louisiana good friend from LPP Chef John Folse John so glad to see you back here great great to be here great to be here with you and it's very exciting to know that you and Leah Chase were very close friends, I mean I know you were competing in the restaurant business there, but you were very close, how did you and Leah me? Well, you know we met on a plane, we were going to New York City, a group of chefs from Louisiana had been invited to go to Bloomingdale's. to showcase Louisiana Cajun and Creole dishes and I was lucky enough to be seated next to Leah Chase on the plane and we had never met, but this was the first meeting of the two of us and about two minutes into the flight Leah arrived.

Downstairs, a person brought out a big roast beef po-boy, put it on her, in those days you could bring food on the plane and she says do you want to share my sandwich bar and it was love at first sight now Leah's Leah and I were side by side next door and at Bloomingdale's and we became great friends, what 30 years, oh, and I mean, I can see in your face, I can see in her face the affection that you really had for someone, she was a special lady, I mean, she . she loved Louisiana, she loved African American culture, naturally, it was a fabulous restaurant for her philanthropic Li, it was unrivaled in the city of New Orleans and she loved that everyone opened their doors whenever someone came, so she and I really connected from the beginning and then. she wasn't one of my closest friends and I think it's a wonderful tribute to her, it's probably one of the best things you could say and you two really are ambassadors for the state of Louisiana.

I know you and your trips. Over the years, you've brought Louisiana cuisine to our menu, Louisiana cuisine, to Moscow, you've been to Germany, you've been to all these places you've been, but Leah was there and they made the pilgrimage. for her, isn't it, and Leah, that's certainly it. I mean, she just had that smile, she had those eyes that looked at you, you were hooked, you know? and that's why I want to do something really special tonight. Also, I just want everyone to get up today. Well I want to do a dinner and all the proceeds will go to Louisiana Public Broadcasting on this special night, but $2500.

I want a white oak plantation to bring a group of 12 people to recreate the best of Leah Chase. dishes well I want to make a spectacular dinner with Leah Chase in mind dishes that some she taught me to make some that we made together but dishes that are okay Connick Leah cheese dishes that she and I cook together around the world so m I'm inviting everyone who is really looking for an interesting event, whether it's for that company or for that family, this is it here, so you need to call and make that promise of $2,500 dollars and that we can fix it because we have volunteers in the studio, we're ready to take your call and tell you all about the big gifts and we also have Clay Fourier who will tell us all about it right here.

Alright, now we have more cool gifts. I don't know if I can match what John just gave us here, that's great calling right now eight eight eight seven six nine 5000, however, for a few more dollars for the pledges, we've got some great stuff for you, let's go over it . us, we are a commitment of two hundred and forty dollars or just twenty dollars a month with the sustained membership, you will receive the Creole Cooking Combo which will include the cookbook by Leah Chase and I Still Cook, the cookbook by Dooky Chase and the book kitchen by John Folse.

Can? dig plus a DVD of the show you're watching and the LPB oven mitt and the cup of gumbo one hundred and twenty dollars only ten dollars a month you'll get the Leah Chase cookbook and I Can Still Cook and that fantastic Dooky Chase cookbook. seventy-two dollars, only six dollars a month, the DVD you're watching here tonight, the LP, a big cup of gumbo, and of course, remember you'll also get the monthly programming guide from visions magazine, you'll get Louisiana life and there is a passport, as well as our own streaming service. He'll call us right now at eight eight eight seven six nine five thousand let's go back to the boys and we're sitting down.

John John is telling me about this wonderful menu that he's going to have when you call those two thousand five hundred. promise of a dollar to go eat with you and 11 of your closest family and friends will be on the plane, well, you know, I only thought of it because she and I make a lot of great dishes together and I would cook with her in our kitchen. Every time she came into the kitchen she came to take charge of the stove, so she was thinking about dishes like her gum. I'm, she was so famous, you know, that green gumbo of Leah's that she made every Maundy Thursday.

She was thinking about the big roast of hers. red fish with that beautiful cumin sauce on top and one of her favorite soups, she called it a cow and we called it a turtle, but in the Creole language the cow is wet, but I want to make a six-course meal, it could be an eight-course dinner . wood not just the plates but the story of the plates why she loved it so much there will be a story telling night it will be a great night white oak plantation $2500 all proceeds will go to my favorite station Louisiana public broadcasting John that's really great You, you've been a good friend, you know for so many years your cooking show was here in heaven and yeah, you've done a lot and you're probably the only person who could recreate what it was like for Leah Chase. a quick look at a story, well, you know, I was there when she went to dinner for President Bush and the storm had just passed, the restaurant had been devastated and she called me and said, John, I need help and she and I collaborated on the dinner she made for President Bush and that was the first restaurant meal after the storm, so she and I hugged a lot and cried a lot again, that's really extraordinary, so look, it was necessary for all this. call eight eight eight seven six nine 5,000 that's a toll free number or LPB org slash friends you can go online and that's a secure server it takes a town that we talked about before so we have all kinds of good friends that are here helping Make this night special by operating the phones and cameras are Associated Grocers employees.

Thank you very much for that, our corporate sponsor tonight is Associated Grocers and the food came from Casa María, Banco Ambrosia, ourselves and our dear friends from Baton Rouge, Coca-Cola. thank you as always for all you do for LPB and watch from Louisiana legend John Folse Martin McConnell, see you in a moment, while food certainly played its part in their story, there were other roles that Leah and Dukey Chase played in the history. I know in this restaurant in some ways we really changed the course of America when you think about it because we had all the civil rights people planning things here and then they would leave and come back and I say we changed the course of America Gambelli early. about eating a bowl of Leah's gumbo or anything she cooked was only available to those of her own race, the Louisiana Legislature had prohibited whites and blacks from eating, drinking or gathering in the same building, with no mixing of colors or cultural voices.

The calls for civil rights were getting louder, the sit-ins and school desegregation issues were going on in the streets and on the television there were screams, there were whispers and on this corner of Treme at Dooky's Restaurant Chase there were civil conversations at dinner when the civil rights movement came the Chase family and they especially had the courage to allow us to have meetings between blacks and whites during the '60s, yes, so that the blacks and I could meet there and eat there, who were the Amiga, the Freedom Riders, who wrote interstate buses to and through the South challenging segregation would find their way to Dooky Chase civil activists, whites and blacks would meet here secretly and safely.

Actually, Leah and Dukey don'tThey set out to be freedom fighters, they hoped for peaceful and easy change, they didn't want to lose what they built here but they weren't willing to reject those who were pushing forward, pushing the limits, she was ground zero, you know, the people could go there at all hours of the night, it used to be a long narrow room upstairs and that's where those civil rights meetings were held because it didn't interfere with the business downstairs and they were talking strategy high level, you know, and a very welcome story was made, there was a rookie chase in that upper room Thurgood Marshall Constance Baker motley to Peter, oh my goodness.

Her husband Jack Greenberg and several other legal giants devised strategies on the spot that launched a manhunt. I think she provided a safe environment and I remember I once asked her if she brought some of these white kids here and so on and so on, what if the police in the country said the police won't come in here, they won't come to my restaurant. and you don't have to worry about it and they never flinched, you know the cops would never go in there, they would be outside but it never bothered us that black people are white.

You had police officers who were over this district and they knew you and protected you. They came in and my mother-in-law made him a sandwich. Treat him to a sandwich. Now you can not. Do that, that's illegal, they think you brought, but she didn't do it as a bribe, she was just grateful for the help where she could get it, whatever they did, you know or the protection that the neighborhood had, we felt free in this small area. freedom, we could play and do everything without feeling rested and dukey, that doesn't mean that when we left, you know, we go back to normal racing in America, but while we were there, no one felt any intimidation at all, just once They had a pipe. bomb someone drove through a pipe bomb and it went through the door through the bars no one was hurt by that so yeah get them all and move on hell just do that everyone moved on through of the strategy meetings held here while they were against it. the law helped change the laws, being able to work together even in secret made a difference and while segregation and racism were real and rampant, New Orleans did not have the level of bloodshed and destruction seen in other southern cities, but the reason it was easier in New Orleans because in New Orleans, unlike other cities, we lived together, you know, just look at this area, we had Miss Comforto living in her grocery store there, she was Italian , we had white people living on the next block, we had black people living here, white people. there, you see, we knew each other, we lived together, so we met, we didn't come into your house, we didn't socialize with you, but you knew me and I knew you, so that made it a little easier than it did in Mississippi, While the fight for equal rights was still painfully slow, many more people now knew the place and taste of Dooky Chase.

I remember some very dear friends of mine during the civil rights issues and everyone they were using Leah's place for. Some of my friends and I said to each other, you know, this has to be one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth. , many returned and Leah's reputation for both cooking and caring grew, even white people revered her so much, you know, they saw how humanity and her, you know, she didn't care about internal racial differences and behaved the same way , she told everyone and I think anyone who met her had to be impressed.

Leah Chase started getting involved in more and more causes and campaigns, she helped all the magazines. She hosted her first fashion show, the hugely popular event would eventually spread nationwide, but her debut raised money for Flint Goodrich Hospital at the time, the only private hospital in New Orleans that granted staff privileges to surgeons. African Americans. Leah was one of the first to financially support her friend Ernest Dutch Morial in his successful 1977 political campaign. He became the first African-American mayor of New Orleans. Leah and Dickie would later join him in another campaign that would bring the world to Louisiana.

My husband was mayor when there was an effort to have the World's Fair and he took a group of people from all walks of life to France, he took Leah and chased him around and they made a big presentation, so they were an important cog in that wheel to bring the fare here. to New Orleans her generosity didn't stop him tariffs and fashion shows she always seemed willing to step up to help where needed this city was at one time predominantly Catholic we didn't work on November 1st because that was all day we went to the cemetery that day and no one worked there were no schools open or anything and you spent the day in the cemeteries you dressed well in the cemetery you had food you put flowers in the tools just like the tasty aromas that came from your kitchen and the sounds of your voices family faith has always been a family part of Leah's life, you know, all these children, you see, we have, my mother had 11 of us, we all pray every day, we all go to church because that's how we came up.

I told you that my dad told us that all you need to do in life are three things, you must pray, you must work and do for others in that order, there was no mystery in it, you follow the Ten Commandments, it is that simple that you share a little bit you have what those who need it know how to complain about what you don't have and then you grow up you never forget your family and you go out and represent your family to the world and in the best way you can it seems that your food is the best Leah's path for her has always been intertwined with family and faith and a priest shows up and said Leah, do you know that's where Jesus' po-boy and the fish in the loaves come from?

Okay, father, I'll take that too. but you know, it tells you that this is how you relate to people, you feed them, you make them happy, you can talk about many things while we eat, one of our most talked about specials only appears one day a year, Maundy Thursday, the day before . On Good Friday, in fact, the only main dishes on the menu that day are fried chicken and a special gumbo made with an odd number of vegetables. She wears nine. It is an old Lindt tradition that goes back a long time. Leah thinks she makes a new friend with every green in the In a pot they made this Gumbo and we have Bo's stew, two types of sausage, chicken, ham, everything and on Maundy Thursday you didn't eat anything until the time was up and that was at the end. noon on Saturday in those days.

Over the years her faith has led her to do good deeds with her food and her money but for her it is more than a responsibility it is a way of life your work is what feeds your faith and buys your clothes but your work your work on earth en To do God's will is to help someone else improve the world in which you live. Her success allowed her to help with different causes and problems. Support fundraisers. She still cooks and gives away food for special events. Using her name and her talents to help. What the hell do you know?

If you give something away, it will come back and I never planned to get rich. I never planned on having much to myself, so she didn't bother me. You know I felt good if I was giving something. those who know her or know about her see that side of Leah, chasing the determined, practical woman who often finds ways to help without all the fanfare. The Bible says you will know a tree by its fruit and you will know the fruit of Leah Chase is love, compassion, mercy, now she is tough, she believes in personal responsibility, she believes in hard work, she wants you to get up early, of course, she wants you to stay late, but also believes in the communion of human beings when tragedy struck in 1990.

The faith and work that kept Leah Chase going, the sudden death of her eldest daughter, Emily, who had worked alongside elbow with her in the kitchen, it broke her heart. I remember when my daughter died, it was the hardest thing in the world. She went home. I worked here and she went home at five and I knew she was in trouble, she was pregnant, I couldn't deliver that baby, something was wrong, I don't know why at 1 in the morning she was dead, just to die, I know. It was a hard blow but I had to get up that makes money and opens this restaurant you could cry you could stay home you couldn't do anything that's going to bring that person back but what people don't understand is when you're tough or they think you're tough they They look at you as if you don't have any feelings they don't understand the tough and the strong and the same feeling as the weak you have the same pain only you don't show it their strength and determination they often introduce themselves with a smile this is how they greet their guests, their friends, even strangers, if I could make a difference, that would be the only thing if you live a life and you look back and say, well, I made a difference, you know I did something. that made the world better she uplifted someone and that's all you do she has many words of wisdom and she's not shy about sharing some she's learned along the way some she's carried her whole life yeah you know ruining my mom me She said it if you wanted to be successful in a man's world she says you have to think like a man like a girl act like a woman and work like a slave I'm in danger for anything it was something like that and that recipe Leah Chase Faith added passion for family and food and at some point a friend introduced her to the art world in the mid 70's Leah Chase began to see things in a different way through the eyes of driven artists ​​by her good friends Celestine Cooked Miss Chase took a position on the board of directors here at the New Orleans Museum of Art this began in Awakening in her middle age.

She had a good friend who was on the board of directors of the museum, she was the only African American on that board, so when she left the board she said I'm going to put your name. I said don't do that because I don't know anything about it, she said, but you will learn with a lot of help and advice. Lea took her own small step into the art world. She bought a poster. It was from a collection made by famous African-American artist Jacob Lawrence. From then on, she was educating herself and discovered African American artwork that she could collect, so I believe she began collecting Elizabeth Catlett's work.

She also bought something from one of the local star artists. At that time, Richard Thomas, who hangs in the restaurant, I think from then on, like most art collectors who start collecting, that insect began to gnaw on it and, in one tune, it became about 30 works of art you know, hang within the The boundaries of the restaurant, the gift it has given us all, is an art gallery, a museum. Someone who would never set foot in a museum can walk into Dooky Chase, order a po-boy, and be in the middle of all this wonderful art. African American artist that's a gift and no one else is replicated at that time they didn't have anyone showed a gallery of African American art work they didn't have that so if I put it on my wall people will see it and well at first people thought I was crazy , they said this is a restaurant, it's not a museum, blah blah blah blah blah, I said, but it's mine, so I went out and put it in their favorites.

The stained glass serves as a divider between a service hallway and in the dining room and I told him I wanted to put the stained glass, there I filled my husband, oh, I like stained glass, but Duke thought I was going to put Church with us, instead of that, he commissioned the panels to capture his own memories, this was the double side. About this, although my neighbor could be in Hub Lines and I could be in mind, we could talk but no one would see us, so I remember they used to play that rock teacher game, you would sit on the bottom step and then you would have your hands . crossed the rock it would be like that to guess with him the rock with him and if you guessed it you went up a step but I like what he did there because you know that there are mixtures of colors in our community so it felt lucky to have hands of different colors It's fair to help the artists who were giving so much to the world through their painting, buying their work, encouraging their success, even preparing some supplies and I'm proud of my ham shakes because I have a friend who is an artist and he is making a piece of art out of bone , so I saved all her bones so that my bones will be saved, they will go into a work of art, so you know, art is a strangely good people but a strange equality that over the years she has enjoyed, appreciated and defended. 1995 Leah was called to testify before the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee, where she advocated for funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Artist Gustav Blas began a project in 2009 that would capture Lee, a chase in his favorite place, the kitchen, in 20 paintings, one of them now hanging. in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is titled Cutting Pumpkin, it's almost as if she were a senator and we sent her to Washington in some way, but that she represents us in the National Portrait Gallery, where the president's portraits are cheese, our representative me too. I can't think of a greater honor to at least play a role and, you know, it's a great achievement, many othershonors and awards have Lea's name engraved in recognition of her culinary skills and also for her contribution to the culture and community, oh my goodness.

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, isn't that so wonderful? If you were to name one award in American food, there are thousands of them, but I can guarantee you that among the greatest, they all recognized every Hall of Fame award. National Restaurant Hall of Fame. James Beard Foundation culinary review, the southern food drink. I mean, name her so she starts naming Leah Chase's awards. You take me an hour and a half because she has them all and deservedly so, so she hello again. I'm Martin McConnell for a long time. As a volunteer, I am a long-time LPB supporter and welcome you back to our studios tonight during this very special broadcast of Leah Chases the Queen of Creole Cuisine.

Now, if you love watching shows that celebrate Louisiana's beloved sons and daughters like this one, then please help. Let us produce more with your promise of financial support tonight, in a moment we will meet with our very good friend, Chef John Folse, and he will share more of his wonderful personal memories with the famous Leah Chase, but first we will take advantage of the opportunity during this brief intermission to invite you to support programs like this by becoming a member of LPP and it is so simple that all you have to do is call eight eight eight seven six nine 5,000 which is a Toll-free call or you can go online to our server sure on LPB or RG now also with us in the studio, we have Clay 4ei and Clay is the executive producer of LP B here at Big Shot and the weight, well, it's gone down there, but you're big. boy, but anyway, he has these wonderful thank you gifts that we have available for you when you call to pledge your support right now.

Clay, tell us everything. Well, the morning I got more than just me, plus the executive here. We have the story of Roger here, senior vice president with a grocery associate here with sales and marketing, right, yes, sir, that's right, okay, very briefly, what is it that the dissociated gentlemen do well. We are a wholesaler supplying high quality products to approximately one hundred and eighty five members. Okay, The Louisianans, all over Louisiana, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, fantastic and you are here tonight helping us with programming and you have a special challenge for everyone, we absolutely know that, you know we are proud to support programming here.

Okay, LPB. and challenging all of our viewers to donate tonight and we will match the first $1500. Tonight, if you call tonight, that will effectively double the dollars pledged if anyone is there, so if you give people and I think you have reps from grocery store partners here, we have a whole group of them. around here and they are waiting for the phones to ring that's right, they wanted to have been ringing, they have been ringing, they want to talk to the people there, call us at 888 seven six nine 5,000 go to LPB or RG excellent programming and Of course, some gifts great, or Rajma, check those out, here we go folks, call us at the number you see on your screen, so for two hundred and forty dollars, if you do the math it's only twenty dollars a month, you will receive the Creole Cooking Combo Now which includes Leah Chase's Cookbook and I'm Still Cooking, Dookie Trace's Cookbook, and John Folse's Cookbook.

Can you dig it plus a DVD of the show you're watching here tonight and the LPP of their oven mitt and gumbo mod one? one hundred and twenty dollars just ten dollars a month you'll get the Leah Chase And I'm Still Cooking Cookbook and the Dooky Chase Cookbook and 72 dollars just six dollars a month you'll get the DVD of the show you're watching tonight and that big cup of gumbo from lpv but the main thing is what Roger said if you call during this break the first $1500 of associated groceries you will match them we will match you dollar for dollar dollar for dollar that's it let's hear the phones ring let's do it let's call The grocery rep Associated so right now at eight eight eight seven six nine 5000 connect to LP vor G let's go back to Martin and John and we're back here with a Louisiana legend, John falls on course now that they slipped away. that little glimpse there we didn't want to surprise you, surprise you too much that John was back here and John, you have a wonderful offer, let's tell everyone about it right now, let's go the other way, first of all, I want to thank you. everyone for responding so quickly in realizing that everything we do here, the funds we raise, go into programming right here at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, who LP will be hosting this show you're watching tonight about Leah Chase, you won't see this anywhere. but on LP B and LP b I was able to do it thanks to the contribution, oh absolutely lord, the offer I am making for this special dinner at Vital Plantation is an evening with food and stories that I remember from my days with Leah Chase.

She and I traveled all over the world, we did cooking shows together about Cajun and Creole cuisine and she was a great friend of mine, we shared stories, we shared food, so I want to make a very special dinner. I think it's a seven. -The course begins with dishes that I remember from Lea's table and will be a vital plantation from any night from Monday to Thursday $2500 and will be a spectacular dinner for 12, so I want everyone to think about her special event. coming soon in your life, it could be an anniversary, it could be a company event, it could be whatever, this will be a special dinner and all the proceeds will go to the Louisiana public, coming right here to LPB, so everyone Add to that I think it's going to be a great night and yes and friends they have been selling very well so you may want to and can hear the phone ringing in the background so call now if you are interested in that wonderful gift, I mean that guy, this is Now that we're approaching the holiday season and people are thinking about Christmas gifts, look at the cool gifts that Clay told you about all these Leah Chase cookbooks and everything, but John, I want to mention some of your, you're a good friend.

You have been a prolific and successful cookbook author and I just wanted to let everyone know that on December 14th you will be at Barnes & Noble Perkins Row here in Baton Rouge from 11:00 to 12:30. sign in person, sign your operating books and give away gumbo, that's what I do at a book signing, everyone can play Gump and then you'll go to Barnes & Noble on City Place from 2:00 to 3:30 signing books, like this If you're doing some Christmas shopping, remember December 14th. Barnes & Noble with Chef John Folse, let's learn about some more gifts from Clay. And most importantly, donate to support Louisiana Public Broadcasting during this corporate event.

Challenge with Associate Grocers Roger, let's hear that again, well you know, we are proud LPB sponsors and we are going to match dollar for dollar $1500, okay if you call tonight this promise is short but this place will be broken . This is it, this is the Corporate Challenge break. Roger was saying fifteen hundred dollars for the associated grocers, which effectively doubles his commitment dollars, so call us right now, what's the number? Eight eight eight seven six nine 5000, are you going to call? That's right, we need you. call because there are many association shopkeepers here absolutely they are here they are there man on the phone don't tell people I don't want to challenge the employees of the association shopkeeper do you want to call everyone on this is the time to call because we want to have a big challenge corporate, but we can only do it with your commitment to your places for it, let's go over the gifts again very quickly, two hundred and forty dollars if you use the sustained membership. just twenty dollars a month you'll get the Leah Chase cookbook and I still cook, I cook, the Dooky Chase and John Folse cookbook, Can You Dig It?, a cookbook plus a DVD of the show you're watching here this one night, just a Chase and the LPP oven mitt and the MA gumbo $120 only ten dollars a month you will receive the Leah Chase cookbook and I can still cook and of course the Dooky Chase cookbook $72 only six dollars a month you will receive the DVD of the show on Delia Chase you're watching here tonight along with your LPP cup of gumbo and remember you'll get Visions Magazine and Louisiana Life Magazine and a subscription to our own streaming service which is a passport to lots of great LPD programming and PBS programming.

Roger, once again, what's up? It's up to $1,500 $1,500 we need you to call we need to do it now let's get back to the guys at center stage and yeah we're laughing here it's a shame you're missing out on a lot. of Jonathan's great stories about chasing Leah and you and Leah travel together, we travel together, every time we went on stage on a plane, everyone said what are that, what are those two people doing with their bodies laughing or in I'm Read. Lea was uh, I just loved her to death, you know, we were inseparable on stage so I'll never forget it, I'll never forget it, but you're going to recreate what it was like to have dinner with Leah, why don't you just plan stories because Leah has stories that I had to share, but on this particular night, as I'm serving a plate, whether it's going to be ours, our redfish might be whether it's going to be their famous dough, whether it's going to be our Ziya gumbo, every time I put a plate on the table.

We're going to talk about Leah's stories, it's going to be a great night and we have one more dinner to sell, so $2,500 that dinner without rings for 12 people, Monday through Thursday, holiday, that is, and it's a wonderful meal for you and 11 of your friends, and if one of all of you shows up while one of you is a guy, you might have to bring me. I'll throw you a chair so you can squeeze a chair. This is very generous of you. You have been a good friend in my position. here I love them all these years and you know you like LP bul PB Leah Chase they are really ambassadors for Louisiana, you tell stories about what Louisiana is really like, it's about food, it's about phone.

So you have so much history that no one does it better than the LPP, we sure did that. They told the story to wait and why don't you help us tell it by calling it a promise of financial support right now? Hello. and welcome to Creole Cuisine with Leah Chase Leah's popularity of hers led her out of her kitchen and into the kitchen of a television studio where she showed a regional audience how she made that flavor come to life. It's better than my wood stove when I got there. on the wood stove you had to work a lot, but this way you can cook a little.

Look, but it was her friendship with Louisiana chef John Folse that helped introduce Leah to the rest of the world. I want to bring out the free old kitchen queen Leah cheese Leah, where are you? Come here, honey, she had her on her own television cooking show several times, but when the two hit the road together they conquered the country with Cajun and Creole cuisine. I had a chance. I had an event in Philly and I called Leah and I told Leah they wanted me to come and do a Cajun and Creole show in Philly when you come and do the African Creole side I'll do Cajun and let's see what happens she said absolutely and I'll never forget walking on a stage of about a thousand people and this mass of everyone that's on tour, the biggest crowd, the biggest crowd, I have a song and I went up on stage and I said, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm chef John Folse and here's my wife Leah Chase and Leo looked who and she said the south doesn't have that breakthrough the crowd went crazy and we realized we had a show we realized we just created the falsely persecuted Cajun John and Creole Experience mom, I think John don't tell people I'm your mom, look at your dad, your dad, you're going to say what's going on, don't tell people you know and, sometimes that B is why I think John you didn't get it. In trouble here, even those who couldn't make it to New Orleans in person would know Leah Chase because she's more than just food and she's more than just celebrities, her culture is continuous and it's rich and enriching, so we're very lucky to have a part of his world now resides in another section of the Smithsonian his red chef's jacket is on permanent display inside the National Museum of African American History and Culture I love food and I love eating it I love serving it and it makes people happy for most of her life this has been her life she thinks better and feels better here and that's why when she lost this precious space it almost crushed her in August 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans area devastating lives and levees the devastation hit every person, if not physically, certainly emotionally, and those who had evacuated had no idea what they would find and what Katrina left behind when I arrived in Birmingham and began to see what was happening, I did not absorb it in Versailles, my grandson. he was here he was a firefighter and I kept telling him I'm going to come home I'm going to do this he said I'm telling you grandma you can't come home his family's houses his beloved restaurant all ruined it was Boggs all over the place it was all it was just you and then you go back thereall these flies that are gone it was the worst thing in the world the worst thing in the world you will ever see you don't know what to do where To start, he remembers going to a grocery store in Baton Rouge and seeing a corona roast, he started to cry and Lidice's table don't worry, miss boss, it's coming, you can take this on, but I felt like an idiot just standing there crying. in the store because I had nowhere to cook, but I'll look for Leah four weeks after Katrina, I was miserable because I couldn't find her and finally someone called me and said, John, she's in Baton Rouge and I'll never forget Lukie was. on the front porch and I said, okay, where's Lee? and I walked in and looked at Leah and the first words out of my mouth said John John, I lost everything and I said Leah, you haven't lost anything, you just wear it out on the Bill, that's all you have and you know the rest. from that story, the world came to Liam's doorstep and when I came back, I was there and I worked with John's people, John's clothes were so captivating, he's, um, he was gorgeous, I would go.

As he was pleading he said you know my friend Leah she lost everything she doesn't have this you need to help her so he got people to give me money he built that bar with me he built it he helped me and they all came to this town and They helped. All Chef John Folse Ella Brennan Chef John Besh colleagues, not competitors, joined so many others in the business world and community to help their friend together managed to lift her spirits, the friends even saved most of the art from the mold invasive as it was for many others it took years to rebuild even to fully return.

One of the funny stories. I think Lee and I shared the second Gumbel I have the day after the flood. I came to Maundy Thursday with a group of friends and I haven't had With my chef's jacket on, I'm walking through the dining room and people are clapping and going to the kitchen and she hears all their noise, you know, so I shake her hand and my chef jacket is on and Leo comes out and she sees me. walking through her huge dining room full of people and she walks up to the microphone and says: I can't believe John Folse is walking through my dining room shaking hands and taking credit for my normal life.

Everyone in the restaurant is very crazy even after the success and popularity of the restaurant. Chase never wanted to leave this area for many years. Next door was a housing project. Sometimes the old houses and buildings nearby fell into disrepair, but they were loved by the people of the area. This was exactly where they wanted to be. surrounded by family, many of them working in restaurant communities, money, kleo, been here for about 30 years. I couldn't do without him and my mother felt that we should never leave this community, we have the opportunity before we remodel to maybe look at other places in the city, but this is our home, there is now a Dooky Chase's at the airport, a sample of Creole cuisine for those who are on the way. to or from another place, in fact, the chef's favorite food is in Creole.

Leah Chase loves meatballs and spaghetti, she doesn't like coffee and she really doesn't like people playing with her food, even if they are president of the United States. she serves president barack obama and president george w bush

leah

chase is the queen of

creole

cuisine while she accepted an award from the prestigious james beard foundation, she told the story of punishing mr. Obama for adding hot sauce to his gumbo before even trying it. I cooked for about two presidents and they are wonderful people. Obama we had a fight the first time, but mr. Obama from Chicago what you know about gumbo swims to help celebrate the reopening of the restaurant Lea had the help of her friend John Folse and his team in the kitchen at the end of the meal she laughs, everything is finished and ready I reached out my hand in the kitchen like this and Leah is telling all these stories at the table and I said Leah Chase, you've kept me a slave all day in that kitchen bag, promising me that I was going to need the president of the United States, you didn't walk. him five or six times within two feet of me and I never mentioned my name once I said do you think I'm your slave or something like that any time for you to be my slave and the president they all got into a fight when Disney came to New Orleans looking For a very American story they found one in the lady. chase in The Princess and the Frog Princess Tiana also dreams of having her own restaurant one day.

I became a model for a princess that she had a lot of fun with and that she likes the fantasy world and she tells visitors about it every year during Mardi Gras. I tell you we live in a fairy tale, but that's okay, fairy tales are good sometimes, Mardi Gras time it is. I'll do a short time, we'll make believe that we Queens make us drop everything and then we come back and go to work the next day, so it's fun to do, even your restaurant gives you a little whimsy and whimsy when I built this by first time.

I wanted that dining room to be a dining room and then I had a room there with the ante when I thought they were calling me. a little high, but now I think it's time to get over that and I'll put more tables there where I can see some older people, you see. I wondered around and on her birthday, the two of them were together through so many things and Leah realizes it. how much it cost him to make me feel good, I loved his music and I always feel sorry that he couldn't continue with his music because he is great at music and he was a great musician, so he sacrificed a lot of his life to do this.

Thing Works November 2016 Edgar Dooky Chase Jr. passed away leaving behind his love and her legacy and while she has handled her pain and sadness throughout her long life, Leah Chase continues to work. I pray you know that I am a firm believer in prayers. I think we are this law fashionable or not. I pray every day and I pray for the people I know. I pray because I am grateful for what I have and I pray for the strength to move forward and do what I need to do from a place of impossibilities in my mind. from the world to a place where you are looking at a pot of jambalaya sausage as a first chance to taste Leah cheese in the mouth of New Orleans to then be sought out globally for your talent and recognized by every food organization imaginable to just bow down to him , tribute to this month, my goodness, how can you even put into words what an achievement this is?

It's been a long road and all the way she just takes the next step, she welcomes everyone who crosses her path and wonders what she's going to do. cook tomorrow he always says he hopes he can live long enough to repay everyone who helped him along the way now i'm getting slow and that's the worst part again oh you're getting slow it's the dickens and my legs are starting I wobble or whatever, that slows me down, but I like to prepare food and I like it to be well made and arranged so that people can eat it and enjoy it and I think I'll be happy doing it for the rest of the time. my life and no one else gave me your emotion deep in my heart live my love I love you even watching I saw you the genuine laughter of a good friend we saw you you just finished watching a Louisiana legend talking about another Louisiana legend and you saw this that friendship developed over the years and you were, you were very close, it really breaks Piercy's eyes when you do it, you can feel it, you feel his love for her, but, what a great great woman, and that's part of what this, uh, what. this dinner is and we want to do it right to tell these stories and have the people around the table who appreciate Leah pursue who she is and allow me to not only cook the dishes that she loved most but at the same time share Leah. stories no one really knows so think about it $2,500 I have one more to set up right one more to sell Santos only one more available $2,500 Mon-Thurs at White Oak Plantation only what if it could be a company event , it could be a family event. event could be special it could be a wedding event or whatever you want it to be it will be a very special night and I really hope someone sees this as an opportunity and not like all the proceeds are going to hell PS remember that's really It is a wonderful gift from you and what a great way to remember your friend Leah Chase Suno embrace her life and give it to LPB because it is because of your contributions to LPB and the financial support you have given over the years that LPB can. to tell these stories of this is a local this is produced by LPB and with all of your valuable help and I mean, it just wouldn't happen right and also my taste of Louisiana.

I want to thank LPB for the years they put Chef John Folse on I and I'm in my love of Louisiana nationally and even internationally to share the stores of Louisiana's rich Cajun and Creole culture without LPB, that wouldn't have happened. We now bring Louisiana-style cooking around the world because of the Louisiana audience. I appreciate you, you know what else, John, I mean, it's really your cookbooks and I don't know, I've lost count of how many you have, they're not just recipes, they're Louisiana stories, they're stories, they're in there and look if I want Learn more about Chef John Folse, his cookbooks, and the great deals he has this Christmas season.

Christmas shopping on December 14th, chef John Folse will be at Barnes & Noble Perkins Rowe from 11:00 to 12:30 and then I will be at Barnes & Noble City Place from 2:00 to 3:30 signing any of his books kitchen, they're all there, they're still in print after all these years, so on December 14th you can meet chef John Folse, he'll be signing a cookbook for you and um, oh absolutely, and a nice hot bowl of gumbo , it will most likely be cold at that time, but look, we have so many ways to say thank you that we had to put together a special team to tell it. all of you about it, let's go to Clay for you and Roger Stone, okay, Roger, come on one more time, we're going to talk about that corporate challenge that Associated Grocers is launching tonight, so Roger, let's hear about that, well, we're proud to do it. match dollar for dollar mm-hmm first commitment of $1500 tonight Wow, that will effectively double your pleasure if you call right now and eight eight eight seven six nine 5,000 by the way, Roger, if they call, we give you a big thank you. give it to someone to review them right now, here we go folks, for your $240, just $20 a month on your maintenance membership, you will receive the Creole Cooking Combo which will include Leah Chase's cookbook and I Still Cook, the Dooky Chase Cookbook and John Falls Cookbook.

You get it, it's amazing. I'm going to include a DVD of the Leah Chase show that you saw here tonight and the LP B oven mitt and the gumbo cup $120, only $10 a month you'll get Leah Chase and I still can. Cooking Cookbook and Companion, Dooky Chase's Cookbook $72, just six a month, Lea Chase's Programming DVD and Big Gumbo Mug LP along with Visions Magazine, Louisiana Life Magazine and our own streaming service passport where you can watch great PBS programming and LPD Programming whenever you want on any device you can, but you better call right now Roger, what's that number?

It's eight eight eight seven six nine 5,000 call now, that's right, it's that corporate challenge to break partner grocery stores matching dollar for dollar up to the first $1500 thank you all for being here answering the phone you are here we are proud to be here it is alright, back to the guys and the associated edibles you guys are so cool, you've been good friends with LPP, right? are our corporate sponsor tonight all the people answering the phones operating the cameras all the people volunteering in the studio tonight are employees of partner grocery stores they are volunteering their time thank you very much and we also want to thank to Casa María ambrosia bakery Baton Rouge coca-cola and Fresh Market for feeding this whole team here tonight and making sure they were sustained through the night because John, the phones are ringing exactly exactly and I want to thank the associate grocers, because I didn't have to cook tonight, but you know, the phones are ringing and it's great for you to respond like that to Louisiana Public Broadcasting programming because it's a special night, a tribute to Lee is just amazing. you are here - to see her in action again - here are great words to see us all together on stage what an icon that Louisiana really needs to preserve and remember and LPB has done it through this beautiful program that did not happen be a part of this and during the show you and I were talking and we saw the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, everyone knows it and the restaurant was flooded and destroyed and then just tell a little bit of that story about how you helped work. with her to get the restaurant back, well, you know, in the documentary they talked about that a little bit, but we lost Lee at that time, which was a terrible loss, we didn't know where she was when we finally found her. a little house in Baton Rouge and when we got to the front porch and found her, she said John, I'm done, I'm done, I lost everything and I said Leah, that will never happen, so we got on the phone and started calling the company.

I'm talking about the big food companies and the Americans saying we have to bringreturn to Leah Chase with the opening of a restaurant. Together, companies responded from all over America immediately and I mean big bucks just for the name of Leah Chase and again to sit here and watch her in action and watch her hero laugh. I mean, it's amazing and this is what Louisiana Public Broadcasting does when I think about LPB, this is the gift that LPB gives us in Louisiana, they preserved these traditions, they keep members of people like Lee. viva share these great dishes especially for us and without Louisiana Public Broadcasting, where would we get this kind of information?

So I ask everyone to keep those phones ringing, be sure to remember how important support is for us to keep Louisiana's public broadcasting stations alive. and well, without you guys, I really don't know how we would have done it all these years bringing my taste of Louisiana to the whole world, so I thank you all for that personally. I've also been alive and stuff. If you really want a taste of what it was like to be with Leah Chase, to be in her kitchen with her, you have a special dinner coming up, but I think we have one left, there's only one left. and that's your chance and the phones are ringing and remember that this dinner is in honor of Leah.

I chose seven or eight dishes that best exemplify what Leah's dishes were, from soups to desserts, and each dish makes its way to the table at White Oak. I want to tell the story that Leah told me about that dish. It will be very fun and perfect. A perfect opportunity for you to do something for your company or your school or whatever. $2500 is an affordable price. Remember that all profits are LPB and you have the advantage of having stories that no one else will ever know and this will be in your house. Why don't the Asian witches come to the end of George O'Neill's roads there and and and and the date is open to everyone. so it's not like you have to do it or in the next multiple choice, as long as it's Monday through Thursday, that's right, make sure that happens, but see if you're interested in checking out some of the other gifts that others appreciate. -Your gifts are the cookbooks that are available.

We'll go back to Clay and Roger and learn a little more about Oh, we sure are now. We'll go over the gifts one last time. Here we go very fast for 240, that was it. Just twenty dollars a month with your maintenance membership you'll get Leah Chase's Cookbook And I'm Still Cooking, Dooky Chase's Cookbook, and John Folse's Cookbook. Can you deepen it? Plus, a DVD of this excellent Leah Chase show will be yours with the LP. V oven mitt and the OPP cup of gumbo one hundred and twenty dollars only ten dollars a month you will receive the Leah Chase instill I can cook cookbook and the Dooky Chase cookbook 72 dollars only six dollars a month with your maintenance membership you will receive the DVD of the Leah Chase show that we showed you here tonight and the LPB gumbo cup along with, of course, Visions magazine, Louisiana Life magazine and the passport.

Now you can get them by calling us at 888 769 5000, by the way, a lot of people, Roger. did call us during the mat challenge break and hot off the press Roger has results so Roger wants to go ahead and read that the numbers are fantastic. We had 19 members call in during our break, yes, during our challenge for a total of six thousand five hundred and ninety dollars Wow adding to the member challenge fifteen hundred dollars edibles a total of eight thousand twenty two dollars well let's clap oh yeah there you have it, thank you all, give them a call, you know it's important to help support Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I listened to John talk about how much we have done in the past and how much more we want to do in the future, but we were only able to do it with his support, thanks to the partner shopkeepers. Roger, yes sir, here tonight, let's go back. to the guys and you see, it's what we've always said, if you have a good product, people will buy it, you have a good program, people will thank you in writing and I and I want to mention that even though we are about to increase. there you still can. I'm not going to close my deal on that dan red white oak for that $2500. remember all profits go to lvb and talk about it with your family and friends and come to white oak and see when you call. eight eight eight seven six nine five thousand we have Associated Groceries volunteers here at the studio and they can give you more information about that.

They can put you in touch with White Oak Plantation for more information, but we're talking about what just like a seven-course meal is six to seven seven seven cores less, who knows, we might add something else to it too and often it won't. it's running out so if you think about it in a month and you want to get it dinner call us please yes please call eight eight eight seven six nine five thousand connect l PB or RG and that's also a secure server John Folse a true Louisiana legend a true friend of L P B and a very dear friend of Leah, pursue him It was very heartwarming to see the affection you two had for one another.

She said she was a great great great friend. It was nice to be here with all of you tonight so thank you thank you for the invitation to say that the county and us. thank you, we appreciate you, you still have a chance to be friends with the L people. That's right, let LPB help you with your gifts this holiday season when you befriend LPB during the winter festival. LP bee membership campaign we will say thank you. You, with these special gifts available only during this time, join the LTV Directors Circle with a one-time contribution of $700 and receive the complete collection of Clementine's Hunter Ornaments.

This collection of 10 ornaments represents scene hunters' memories of their life at the Melrose Plantation scenes that have made their artwork an important part of American history. Each handmade ornament is meticulously crafted and hand painted by highly skilled artisans. You're sure to treasure this important collection forever for a one-time contribution of $180. I received the set of three Clementine Hunter Hand. blue