Leah Chase

Known as the "Queen of Creole Cuisine," Leyah "Leah" Lange Chase has fed Quincy Jones, Jesse Jackson, Duke Ellington, Thurgood Marshall, James Baldwin, Ray Charles, Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and countless others as Executive Chef of Dooky Chase's Restaurant - one of the best-known and most culturally significant restaurants in New Orleans. Leah Chase has more recently served as the inspiration for Princess Tiana in Disney's Princess and the Frog. Born on January 6, 1923 in New Orleans, Chase was one of 14 children. She was raised in nearby Madisonville, LA. At the time, there were no catholic high schools for black girls in Madisonville, so after sixth grade, Chase moved to New Orleans to live with an aunt so that she could attend school. After high school, her favorite job was waiting tables in the French Quarter. It was here that she developed her love for food and feeding others. In 1945, she met local musician Edgar "Dooky" Chase Jr., whose father had opened a st