| Austin Leslie |
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Austin Leslie ( neighborhood, starting out at Pampy's Creole Kitchen and stopping along the way at the location of the original Chez Helene.Brinkley, p.611 KATC. ''Jazz funeral held for famous chef'' NOLA.com - Austin Leslie's Jazz Funeral Photo Gallery With his trademark captain's cap, lambchop ''. EARLY YEARS While still in high school, Leslie worked at Portia's Fountain on Rampart Street , first as a delivery boy and later in the kitchen under Chef Bill Turner. One of the featured dishes was a crispy fried chicken garnished with sliced Dill Pickle s, which the owner taught him to cook. This would become Leslie's signature item over the next fifty years. After high school he worked as a chef's assistant at the D.H. Holmes restaurant. The department store catered primarily to the affluent white elite of New Orleans, and for the four and half years he worked there Leslie Was Not Allowed to prepare orders directly for customers, doing prep work instead. In 1964, his Aunt Helen opened Chez Helene and Leslie came to work full-time as the chef. CHEZ HELENE The original location of the restaurant was on North Robertson Street, near the French Quarter . It became the classic "underground" restaurant, featuring good food at reasonable prices in an off-the-beaten-path location. Despite the modest surroundings, it was compared favorably to the grand New Orleans restaurants such as Brennan's , Antoine's , and Commander's Palace . In addition to receiving rave reviews from the local food critics, Chez Helene also caught the attention of national food writers such as R.W. "Johnny" Apple of '' The New York Times '' and Calvin Trillin . NY Times. ''It Takes More Than Crayfish to Make a Cajun Wiggle.'' R.W. Apple Jr. NOLA.com. ''Love That Chicken.'' Brett Anderson. The restaurant served haute creole dishes like Oysters Rockefeller as well as down-home items like Stuffed Bell Pepper , fried Chicken Livers , and Mustard Greens . His aunt retired in 1975 and sold the the restaurant to Leslie. Despite its commercial and culinary success, the North Robertson neighborhood became unsafe. Cab drivers would not travel to the area, and hotel concierges would no longer recommend the restaurant. Leslie moved his business to the French Quarter and opened a branch in Chicago . He also tried his hand at running a number of fried chicken outlets. But the new location did not have the same charm as the original and Leslie eventually closed Chez Helene in 1995 after thirty years of operation. After closing the Chez Helene he wrote and published the cookbook Creole-Soul. POST CHEZ HELENE After Chez Helene, Leslie worked for six months in neighborhood of New Orleans. He introduced his signature Fried Chicken with Persillade garnished with a dill pickle to a new generation of eaters. In October of 2004, he left Jacques-Imo's and joined Stan "Pampy" Barre at Pampy's Creole Kitchen in the Seventh Ward. When asked why he left, Leslie said, "I didn't move away from Jack because of money. I moved away from Jacques-Imo's because I wanted to get away from frying. I'm going to die. But I'm not going to die over that fryer." At Pampy's he worked as both a mentor to the kitchen staff, sharing his formidable knowledge of Creole cooking, and as a good-will ambassador in the front of the house, greeting and chatting with guests. Like many in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Leslie fled up to the attic of his house to escape rising flood waters. He was rescued from his rooftop after two days and evacuated first to the Morial Convention Center , then briefly to Arkansas , and finally to Atlanta. He was admitted to an Atlanta hospital on September 28 2005 with a high fever and died the next day from a heart attack. NOLA.com. ''Chef Austin Leslie is dead at 71.'' Brett Anderson. QUOTES
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