New Orleans restaurant Dooky Chase’s opened under that name in 1941.
The restaurant was established by Dooky Chase Sr. and his wife, Emily, in New Orleans. It began as a sandwich shop and evolved into a major restaurant in the city’s African American community. Leah Chase later became its celebrated chef and public face.
Dooky Chase’s is located in the Treme neighborhood, a historic center of African American culture in New Orleans. The restaurant became known for Creole cooking, including gumbo, fried chicken, red beans, and seafood dishes.
The business also had an important civil-rights history. During segregation, it provided a place where Black patrons and activists could meet, and it hosted figures connected with the movement. The 1941 opening date refers to the restaurant’s establishment, not Leah Chase’s later rise to national culinary prominence.