Edgar “Dook” Chase IV was born in 1982 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the youngest of three sons of Edgar “Dooky” Chase III and Alva Jean Chase. He grew up learning the restaurant trade from his grandmother, the legendary Leah Chase. He studied economics and finance in college and initially pursued a career in finance at Entergy.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, Chase returned to New Orleans to help rebuild Dooky Chase’s. The homecoming reignited his passion for the family’s restaurant business. He went on to earn an MBA before pursuing a culinary degree at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. In 2013, his company secured an airport concession partnership, where he later launched Dook’s Place in 2016.

In 2023, Chase opened Chapter IV, a modern Creole restaurant in downtown New Orleans, alongside his wife, Gretchen. This was followed by his Food Network debut in 2025 as co-host and resident expert on Family Recipe Showdown alongside Octavia Spencer, a cooking competition series filmed at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. He’s also the host of Dooky Chase: A Chef’s Journey, which airs on PBS.