This show was truly great. It must have been - I still think about it regularly after so many years. What I wanted to put here was a sad update on the show's inspiration - at least for it's atmosphere and location - Chez Helene in New Orleans and it's proprietor Austin Leslie. I visited New Orleans a few years after the show was canceled, and sought out the restaurant. Austin talked to me at length and told me stories about the influence his place had on the show, as well as many other stories and anecdotes, as well as advice on my visit. He was really a great host. It was first time to New Orleans and his welcome really made my trip special. So did the smothered cabbage and pig tails!(it was a creole and soul food restaurant). Years later, after Katrina, I looked him up to see how he was doing. I have a cookbook he signed for me (as well as drawing a caricature of himself inside); and I was making a recipe out of it... Sadly he died from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. He was trapped in an attic and was exposed to heat (over 120F!) and other deprivations, which weakened him, and he eventually succumbed to pneumonia. But what a cook and truly remarkable person!
Review of Frank's Place
