Three delicious days in New Orleans
Memorable dining at Dooky Chase's, Compère Lapin, MaMou and more. Plus pre-Mardi Gras parades 👑 and recipes spun from the trip.
Happy Saturday, restless cook!
My apologies for sending this a day late. I hoped you wouldn’t mind, as the free monthly missive went out on Thursday.
One of the perks of living in North Texas is being able to jump in the car and take a road trip to Louisiana — which we did last week. It was the first time we skipped Cajun country (the area around Lafayette), and only visited New Orleans. Instead we stopped overnight in Houston on the way, and dined with friends at Bludorn — Aaron and Victoria Bludorn’s terrific restaurant.
Mardi Gras is still 10 days away, but we arrived in time for the first parade of the Mardi Gras season, and the city was abuzz with excitement.
At long last, Dooky Chase’s
Dining-wise, the one place I knew I had to experience was Dooky Chase’s — the legendary Tremé restaurant founded in 1941 by Emily and Dooky Chase, Sr., the parents-in-law of the late great chef Leah Chase, also known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine. For more than half a century, the restaurant has been a gathering place for the city’s politicians, community organizers and artists. Civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., met in the upstairs dining room back in the day; President Obama dined at Dooky Chase’s when he was still a senator.
Dooky Chase’s is also a beloved destination for Creole cooking. Cooks Without Borders’ friend Chloé Landrieu-Murphy spotlighted Dooky Chase’s in a story three years ago about gumbo z’herbes, and Leah’s grandson chef Edgar “Dooky” Chase IV — who now runs the kitchen — kindly gave us permission to print a recipe for the restaurant’s famous version.