Is Dooky Chase's Restaurant Still Open? Best Thing I Ever Ate Update

Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 6, Episode 2

The episode featured Dooky Chase's Restaurant in the Tremé neighborhood, a Creole restaurant whose dining room became known during the 1950s and 1960s as a place where civil rights leaders could safely meet and plan strategy, according to Wikipedia (revised 2026-08-17). The restaurant, in business since 1941 according to its own website, dookychaserestaurants.com, has been recognized nationally: Food & Wine named it one of the 40 most important restaurants of the past 40 years in 2018, and the James Beard Foundation named it an America's Classic in 2025. According to a Yelp listing updated September 2026, showing more than 2,400 photos and 1,225 reviews, the restaurant remained active at 2301 Orleans Avenue, New Orleans. The Yelp page listed dine-in hours Tuesday through Saturday, with the kitchen closed Sunday and Monday.

Best Thing I Ever Ate, Season 8, Episode 7

In this Best Thing I Ever Ate (Food Network) 'Southern Charm' episode, Dooky Chase's Restaurant was featured for its Creole cooking and its history as a meeting place for New Orleans' civil rights movement. According to the restaurant's own website, dookychaserestaurants.com, checked on 2026-09-08, Dooky Chase's has operated in Treme since 1941, was founded by Emily and Dooky Chase Sr., closed for two years to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, and remains family owned, having hosted guests including President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, Hank Aaron, Ernest Gaines, and Quincy Jones.

Food Paradise, Season 2, Episode 5

The episode featured Dooky Chase's Creole cooking and the restaurant's history as a gathering place during the Civil Rights Movement. Dooky Chase's Restaurant has operated in New Orleans since 1941, according to the restaurant's own website. Leah Chase, the restaurant's longtime chef and an author and television personality known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine, ran Dooky Chase's kitchen and helped make it a well-known gathering place for participants in the Civil Rights Movement, according to Wikipedia's Leah Chase entry (2026-08-17). Wikipedia (2026-08-17) also notes that in 2018, Food & Wine named Dooky Chase's one of the 40 most important restaurants of the past 40 years. The restaurant's own website, dookychaserestaurants.com, checked on 2026-09-08, carried a 2026 copyright date and listed Friday lunch hours from 11 AM to 3 PM and Friday-and-Saturday dinner hours from 5:30 to 9 PM, along with a dress code notice and employment information.

Man v. Food, Season 5, Episode 4 Aired August 14, 2017

S5E4 (aired 2017-08-14) featured Dooky Chase's Restaurant, highlighting its fried chicken and Creole cooking. Founded in 1941 in New Orleans's Treme neighborhood, the restaurant became a Civil Rights-era gathering place, and its dining room doubled as a gallery for African-American art. Chef Leah Chase, known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine, led the kitchen for decades and was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America in 2010, according to Wikipedia (revised 2026-08-17). Food & Wine named the restaurant one of the 40 most important restaurants of the past 40 years in 2018, per the same source, and Chase died on June 1, 2019. According to the restaurant's website (dookychaserestaurants.com), checked 2026-09-08, the site listed current 2026 hours -- Friday lunch 11am-3pm and Friday-Saturday dinner 5:30pm-9pm -- plus nationwide shipping and online ordering.