Chapter IV comes from a long lineage of thriving Black-owned restaurants in New Orleans. Owner Edgar “Dook” Chase IV is the great-grandson of Emily and Dooky Chase Sr., who founded the city’s famous Dooky Chase (yes, the one that inspired Princess Tiana’s restaurant in Disney’s 2009 film The Princess and the Frog) in the Treme back in 1941.
“The whole theme behind Chapter IV is a celebration of the fourth generation in the business,” Chase tells EBONY. “When you look at the name, when you look at the art on the wall, we have so many pieces that depict family…teaching others the legacy and the continuing of a legacy through the second, third and fourth generation.”
Set in Tulane University’s newest residential development Thirteen15, Chapter IV features a modern take on classic Creole dishes passed down from Chef Dook’s grandmother, the late Chef Leah Chase. “My grandmother would often joke at Dooky Chase that she helped change the course of America over a bowl of gumbo,” Chase shares.
Indeed, the family’s founding restaurant played a major role in the Civil Rights era: Dooky Chase’s Restaurant was a hot spot for civil and economic discussion within the African American community, bringing leaders and freedom fighters such as Thurgood Marshall and Oretha Castle Haley to its table.
In Chapter IV, Chase and his wife Gretchen continue a tradition of being a central hub for cultural exploration. “As you fast forward to our generation and so many problems revolving around the community, bringing those families to the table, learning from each other, discussing, having dialogue and moving forward…food is everything.”
Knowing how our flavors, from West African to French, are all represented in New Orleans’ cooking, Chase says with a dining experience in Chapter IV, “You’re gonna find something that tastes a little bit like your own home.”
Of course, that means digging into Chapter IV’s offering of gumbo, with its many different flavor profiles. “If you talk to someone and say, I have sausages and chicken; I have shrimp, I have crab, and I have veal too, and I’m making a dish, they’d probably look at you crazy. But if you say, ‘I’m making a gumbo,’ it works,” “That’s just how this world is. It’s so many different influences and cultures, but we all come together.”
The biggest tradition passed down in the Chase family business is how down-home food has the power to unite. “We’re really just creating that environment where people want to be, where people are happy, celebrating, and having a conversation, Chase declares. “That’s the key.”