Leah Chase, Chef, Dooky Chase's Restaurant

Dooky Chase's Restaurant is a New Orleans, Louisiana institution. Its Chef, the late Leah Chase, is an icon. Known as "The Queen of Creole Cooking," Chef Chase cooked and managed Dooky Chase's since shortly after she married the restaurant founder's son, jazz musician Edgar Dooky Chase Jr., in 1944. The restaurant was one of the few places where black and white patrons could dine together in segregated New Orleans, and it soon became a place for Civil Rights Movement leaders to meet and strategize. Everyone from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Thurgood Marshall dined at Dooky Chase's, and (as we learned in our interview) Chef Chase even brought her food to jailed Freedom Riders after their arrest for protesting the segregated interstate bus system.

Though Chef Chase passed away on June 1, 2019 at the age of 96, we were blessed with the opportunity to speak with the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award-winner on our visit to her restaurant in the fall of 2016. She sat in the middle of her busy kitchen, keeping an eye on each dish that went out the door as she taught us about her career, her popular fried chicken, and the roots of her legendary cuisine. It was an awe-inspiring opportunity to learn from one of America’s greatest and most influential chefs.

Arthur Davis, Chef and Owner, The Old Country Store Restaurant

From the outside, The Old Country Store Restaurant may seem like little more than the quiet old general store that gave the building its name. But upon entering the spacious dining hall (filled with plenty of leftover knick-knacks from its general store days) and meeting the charismatic owner Arthur “Mr. D” Davis, you’ll understand why locals, tourists, and celebrity chefs travel long distances to Lorman, Mississippi to taste the “heavenly fried chicken” made by this self-proclaimed “Chicken Cooking King.” We spoke with Chef Davis when we made the trip down Highway 61 last year, eating copious amounts of his chicken as he told us the story of his establishment and demonstrated the hospitality that has made him famous. 

Lolis Eric Elie, Writer, Filmmaker, and Historian

Lolis Eric Elie is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and historian from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the author of Treme: Stories and Recipes from the Heart of New Orleans and Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country (as well as the writer and co-producer of a documentary film based on the book). He is also the editor of Cornbread Nation 2: The Best of Southern Food Writing. Mr Elie's work as a journalist has appeared in newspapers and magazine across the country, including the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Gourmet, and The Oxford American. His work also extends to television, as he has served on the writing staff for the AMC show Hell on Wheels, HBO's Treme, and was co-producer and writer of the PBS documentary Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. 

Mr. Elie was kind enough to take time out of his (obviously) busy schedule to speak with us about fried chicken and its history in New Orleans. According to Elie, his favorite fried chicken can be found at Willie Mae's Scotch House. "Willie Mae's fried chicken was a revelation to me...the crust at Willie Mae's fried chicken has always struck me as something of the ideal," he said.

Lillie Mae Gadsden, Chef, Martha Lou's Kitchen

Martha Lou Gadsden’s iconic status is evident even before you walk in the door of Martha Lou’s Kitchen, her restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. The restaurant’s bright-pink exterior, covered with murals of Chef Gadsden and Charleston’s scenery, reminds passersby that she has been serving America her popular soul food classics for “over 30 years.” Though she shows no sign of slowing down at age 87, her daughters Debra Worthy and Lillie Mae Gadsden join her in the kitchen and ensure that this family business never misses a beat. We spoke with Lillie Mae Gadsden on our visit to Charleston and learned more about Martha Lou Gadsden's history and her renowned fried chicken.

Tracy Gates, Owner, Busy Bee Café:

When Tracy Gates took over Atlanta’s iconic Busy Bee Café in 1987, she was surprised to find that “they didn’t even serve chicken every day.” Inspired by memories of her grandmother’s fried chicken and a desire to honor the soul food institution’s long history (the Café was founded by Lucy Jackson in 1947), she dedicated years of study and practice to developing the ideal flavor, texture, and consistency for her version of the dish. The perpetually-full dining room and countless accolades her chicken has received in the years since highlight the fruits of her labor. “It’s the challenge of it that inspires me,” Gates said. When “you create something that people love, that’s the joy of all of it.”

Edouardo Jordan, Chef & Owner, JuneBaby and Salare

Edouardo Jordan is the critically acclaimed chef and owner of two Seattle restaurants: Salare and JuneBaby. After growing up and attending college in Florida, Jordan worked in some of the country’s finest kitchens (including New York’s Per Se and California’s The French Laundry) before opening his own restaurants in 2015 and 2017. In 2018, Jordan won two James Beard awards for his work: “Best Chef: Northwest” and the title of “Best New Restaurant” for JuneBaby.

Though JuneBaby only serves fried chicken once a week, it has quickly become a citywide favorite, with long lines waiting outside the restaurant each Sunday.

Adrian Miller, Author and Historian

Adrian Miller is the James Beard Award-winning "Soul Food Scholar," an author and historian from Denver, Colorado. He is the author of Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time, as well as the recently-published The President's Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas. Mr. Miller spoke with us in Washington, DC to teach us about how fried chicken arrived and thrived in America, as well as how the dish "quickly became a meal associated with Sunday Church suppers." 
 

Therese Nelson, Chef and Historian

 Therese Nelson’s culinary career spans many different fields. After earning multiple degrees from Johnson and Wales University, Nelson has found success: working in numerous kitchens; as a recipe developer; managing a catering company; and even as a private chef. On top of this, she is a widely published author of food history and food journalism, with freelance work for websites such as Taste and First We Feast (I particularly love her recent piece on James Beard award-winning pastry chef Dolester Miles).

Her work as a historian and chef also led her to found Black Culinary History, an organization that seeks to “connect chefs of color to preserve black heritage throughout the African culinary diaspora, to promote and share the work of her colleagues, and to preserve the legacy being constructed by black chefs for this next generation.”

Linda Pinckney, Owner and Chef, Bertha's Kitchen

Bertha's Kitchen in Charleston, South Carolina is a true family business. More than 35 years after it was founded by the late Albertha Grant, the restaurant is run by her three daughters, Julie Grant, Linda Pinckney, and Sharon Grant Coakley, who manage the kitchen and ensure that everything on the menu lives up to their mother's exacting standards. Their success is evidenced by the line of customers trailing out the door on our recent visit, eager to try the family's versions of low country classics like okra stew, turkey prioleau, and fried chicken. The fame of these dishes has spread well beyond Charleston, as Bertha's was recently named a James Beard Foundation "America's Classic" and one of Eater's 38 "Most Essential" American Restaurants for 2017. We spoke to Linda Pinckney about her mother’s legacy and what this recognition (from both local customers and the national media) means to their family. 

Todd Richards, Chef & Author

Chef Todd Richards is an extremely busy man. In addition to running his hot chicken stand Richards’ Southern Fried and serving as the culinary director of One Flew South and Chicken+Beer, this James Beard Award-nominated chef recently released an autobiographical cookbook—Soul: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes. Chef Richards invited us to Atlanta to visit his restaurants and learn more about his story and how he became a chef “to bring people closer together.” 

Kerry Seaton-Stewart, Manager, Willie Mae's Scotch House

New Orleans's Willie Mae's Scotch House was founded as a bar in 1957. Then it was a barber shop. Then a beauty salon. By the 1970s, it had transformed itself yet again into a restaurant where Chef Willie Mae Seaton was cooking the legendary fried chicken that would win her restaurant a James Beard Award as an “America’s Classic” in 2005. Though it was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Willie Mae's Scotch House survived (with help from our interview subject Lolis Eric Elie and the Southern Foodways Alliance) and is still serving the fried chicken that earned the late Chef Seaton the title “the Goddess of Fried Chicken.” We spoke with Kerry Seaton-Stewart, Ms. Seaton’s great-granddaughter and the current manager of Willie Mae’s, on our recent visit to sample some of their award-winning fried chicken.

Sen. Willie Simmons, Mississippi State Senator and Owner, The Senator's Place

The Senator’s Place is, in fact, a Senator’s place. Located just off Highway 61 in Cleveland, Mississippi, this soul food restaurant is owned and operated by Mississippi State Senator Willie Simmons. Sen. Simmons' restaurant has been a Cleveland institution since its opening in 2003 (even hosting Anthony Bourdain for the "Mississippi" episode of Parts Unknown), and he was kind enough to invite us into his kitchen and speak with us about what his restaurant's famous fried chicken means to him and the community.