by Jennifer Loven
The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - President Bush said Tuesday he wanted to celebrate the spirit of New Orleans. He chose to do so with Leah Chase, considered this proud, still’struggling city’s Queen of Creole, known as much for her famous cooking as her warm personality.

The president and his wife, Laura, dined with about two dozen others at her restaurant, Dooky Chase, a landmark eatery that was once a gathering place for civil rights leaders and has become famous for traditional Creole cooking. Around the large square table with Bush, federal, state and local officials mixed with athletes, artists, developers and others.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was at the table, as was musician Irvin Mayfield, for a long list of dishes such as crab soup, grilled redfish, shrimp Clemenceau, chicken with oyster dressing and jambalaya.

Bush called them all “quiet heroes who have helped bring optimism and hope to New Orleans” after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina two years ago Wednesday. He saluted Chase and her husband, Dooky Chase II, who have renovated the restaurant with its elegant dining rooms, impressive art collection and brilliantly colored walls and plan to finally reopen from the storm’s damage in a couple of weeks.

“I know you would want me to say that the food here is about as good as anyplace here in New Orleans,” Bush said. “I will say it.”

The president and his wife are to spend Wednesday’s anniversary at a New Orleans charter school and a community center down the Gulf Coast in Bay St. Louis, Miss. It is Bush’s 15th visit to the region since the storm but only his second since last year’s anniversary, as the issue has moved further off the president’s radar.

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