Leave it to my city to hold an exhibit of paintings of one of our favorite chefs and restauranteurs, Leah Chase. Dooky Chase Restaurant was the headquarters of the civil rights movement in the 1960s in New Orleans, and was one of the few places where black and white people sat together. Add to that the importance of the location (it anchors the 6th ward and Treme), the multi-generational kitchen (grandson has now joined Miss Leah in the kitchen), the long memory of our food culture held there (I once waited for Miss Leah to make me a 5 gallon bucket of proper sweet tea for an event at the farmers market which she did by getting on a ladder and taking the largest spoon I ever saw to stir it up), and her warmth with everyone she comes in contact with and you end up with the long list of reasons to thank Miss Leah and the rest of the Chase family for their devotion to New Orleans.

Leah Chase: Paintings by Gustave Blache III @ NOMA | New Orleans Museum of Art.

Also give a listen to Leah Chase, jazz singer- no, not the matriarch, but her daughter who is one of the premier jazz vocalists in the area.
Leah Chase jazz album